The ULTIMATE 2026 Seahawks Season Preview

0:00Good morning everybody, welcome to a special episode of Hawkblogger Mornings, I am Brian M. Howzer and you can find all of the things that we do on this show on YouTube, on TikTok, on Instagram, ad hoc blogger as we kick off a 2026 season for your Seattle Seahawks. This is a special episode that's actually brought to you by one of our new sponsors, Pemko, Insurance, and they are blowing it out today. We have an absolutely amazing list of guests. We're going to kick it off with our old pals, Dave Bowling and Mike Sando, and that is not a comment on age. That is just a comment on the amount of time we have spent together over the last couple years. Once after we talk to them, we are going to talk to Brian Baldinger, the NFL Network, and

1:01have some fun with him. Then you know the guy that will beat in some brains if he doesn't get what he wants. Mr. Jefferdeen Morgan, known as Negan from the Walking Dead and many other places also awesome dude and huge Seahawks fan voice of the sound if you are a fan of that on the Seahawks channel. Then we're going to wrap it up with Lindsey Rhodes of Sumer Sports and all along the way, we're going to be weaving in some information. I'm excited. This is it. We are days away from the Seahawks season beginning and there's a lot to cover. Even though it's going to be a three hour plus show or maybe we will not get to everything that I would consider important to cover about this team. A few things that I think are important as we get this off the ground is maybe you're

2:04somebody who's just coming in and it's heard a lot of things from a lot of people about the Seahawks and about the off season. I think there are a few things that are worth reminding everybody about just at the jump about who the 2025 Seahawks were and what are some of the differences that could show up for 2026. So what are some of the things that people get wrong when evaluating the 2025 Seattle Seahawks? Number one for sure is related to Sam Darnold. The number one thing that I think people get wrong when evaluating the 2025 Seahawks and the changes that they've made this off season are that Sam Darnold led the NFL internovers in 2025 from a factual perspective that is accurate. From a actual analysis perspective, it is misleading.

3:09The Seahawks were 27th in the NFL in turnover margin through week 12 last year. That includes that infamous game against the Rams when he had four interceptions. From week 12 on, they were number one in the NFL in turnover margin and that included not turning the ball over a single time in the playoffs. So that is a pretty significant difference from perception and reality that I think is worth bearing in mind. What we don't know and what we're going to soon find out is whether that was a page that was turned by Sam Darnold and by this offense as they got used to each other as they acclimated as he started to understand what risks were worth taking and what risks were not. Or was that just a really good stretch of 10 games?

4:09By the way, 10 games that they never lost, they are on a 10 game winning streak coming into this season. That is a question. So it is both a misnomer and a valid question going into the 2026 season. Another one that I believe is incredibly common is the Seahawks run game is in a lot of trouble with Ken Walker moving on the Super Bowl MVP. And related to this is that there are folks that will go out there and say, well, Ken Walker was the reason Ken Walker turned around and he got on a hot streak. Well, that's not entirely true. The entire running game turned around from week 16 on and I'll show you some numbers in a second along those along that path.

5:11But there is something else that changed a couple other things that changed that you should know about the 2025 team that is going to affect potentially the 2026 team. The first of which I have to add another misnomer on top of this list, which is Rashid Shaheed did not have a lot of impact on the offense last year Rashid Shaheed only impacted special teams for the Seahawks. And if you think of Rashid Shaheed as someone who is only a wide receiver who is only going to affect the passing game, that's not far off. Rashid Shaheed for the Seahawks had 15 catches last year for 188 yards. That's not a lot. But when we take this point about the run game in general for the Seahawks and then we talk about Rashid Shaheed, let me give you one example of something that may not be clear to a lot of people.

6:13Before Rashid Shaheed arrived, the Seahawks were one of the worst running teams in the NFL when they had three wide receivers on the field. And I'll tell you, I'll show you in a second just how bad they were. And Rashid Shaheed joined the team. They became one of the better teams running out of 11 personnel with three receivers on the field. Take a look at these numbers. From weeks one to 10, in 11 personnel, three receivers on the field, the Seahawks were 31st out of 32 teams in EPA per rush. From week 11 on, and yes, that includes that Rams game where things went haywire. They were 13th out of 32. That is a massive change. And if you go from week 16 on, and this is where I'll add in the other change, the Seahawks were 8th out of 32 over that period of time with a plus 0.123 EPA per rush.

7:20Now to keep in mind, 1.123 EPA per rush, if that was your rushing EPA for a whole season, it would be by far the best rushing EPA in the entire NFL. So what else changed from week 16 on? The Seahawks let go their run game, the running back coach, Kennedy Palomolo. And Justin Outen took over that room. And I can tell you from a lot of conversations in and around that organization that there is a fair amount of kind of dysfunction in how things were working in that running back room. And for it's another example of who Mike McDonald is as a coach that during the middle essentially, the late stages of a super bowl season, he found dysfunction in a room and he let somebody go. And by doing that, there were direct on field outcomes that then I believe if he had not

8:25made that one change, you may not be talking about a Seahawks 2025 super bowl team. That's how big of an impact it was to change the way the running backs were being coached in that room and the way they approached the running game. And I want to show you this as well. This is a different view. Let me remove this and put this up there. So this is from that point where Kennedy Palomolo moved on and Justin Outen came in. And this is combined with the Rashid Shaheed information. The Seahawks 11 personnel group became their best rushing personnel package. And their 21 personnel group, which is already good, got better as well. There are a lot more things to talk about here in terms of misnomers about that 2025 Seahawks team.

9:26One more I will give you before I welcome in our first set of guests is that the Seahawks lost a lot. You're going to hear that from a lot of people. They lost a lot. They lost Rick Woolent. They lost Ken Walker. They lost Kobe Bryant. They lost Boa Emafe. First of all, only one of those players, sorry, excuse me, two of those players were starters for this team last year. Josh Job was the starter at cornerback most of the season, not Rick Woolent. Boa Emafe was four out of four on the depth chart in the Edgroom. But more importantly, the Seahawks return the second highest percentage of snaps of any Super Bowl winner in the last 15 seasons. Based on who they kept, people get this wrong. And they also get wrong when the off season started.

10:27John Schneider and Joey Lane started this off season when they extended a blucus before the season began last year. And they then extended Charles Cross before the season ended. The fact that they have been able to keep together a young core and a Super Bowl championship team is something to actually marvel at, not criticize. And so I think a lot of people nationally have gotten it wrong about three major aspects of this team. And then there's the part that we're going to talk about with a lot of folks today. The biggest question, there's a lot of questions going into this season, not by relative sense, but by some, you know, if you're looking at this team, there are some legitimate questions. The biggest one has to be who is Brian Flurry as an offensive coordinator. Who is he as a play call? We do not know the answer to that. I will share some numbers for you throughout this episode that help paint a picture of

11:30how the Seahawks offense under Clint Kubiak was different than the 49ers offense under Kyle Shanahan, which Brian Flurry came up under and is influenced by and things that I noticed in watching the team during practice. But I can't wait any longer. I can't just sit here and talk to you by myself. I got to bring in my favorite two people. Let's talk to Dave Bowling, Mike Sando. So great to see you guys on what is, I guess, a blue Friday. I don't know. How are you doing, Dave? Yeah, you just got to kind of get centered here. Yeah, yeah. Let's get to some yoga for us here. Well, you get centered or what's going on? No, I'll do some snapping. We can all just kind of lean if that would make you feel better. No, you're my guards. You're spacing coach Benton would be honest. He would. He would trouble for the guards. I can tell you that.

12:30Mike, let's start with you, man. The season's getting started, man. What's going on in the world of Mike Sando? So I did my, as you noticed, I did my check-ins for a last snapshot with people in the league. What do they think of the ASE and NFC in order? So the CX were second in that to the Rams that people are going with the Rams. We'll see if that holds up. And then I'm in the home stretch of working on a project a lot of the ASEs and that all, I think we're going to publish something next week. I usually do. There's usually something I'm interested in every year. It does pertain to the Rams a little bit too. So that will be interesting. And then I'm going to be at the game on Wednesday too. That'll be fun. I can imagine it's going to be a very special article that you are going to become out with soon. And Dave, Dave. Sure. Man, it's always fun sitting on the, like, stand on the sidelines that practice with you or sit in the press box and watch in football. And I am curious.

13:32So people that don't remember, there's a great little viral clip of you on this show after Rookie Mini Camp last year. This is before the season. When you saying this was maybe the most talented draft group you had seen for the Seahawks since at least the L.O.B. And you were absolutely right on. And that draft class was instrumental in what happened last season. Obviously, it's a very different year. A lot fewer draft picks, not as heralded of a draft class in general. But when you look at this 2026 Seahawks team, I'm curious. Where your mind goes? I'm really excited, not because I have equity, fan interest, but because I've covered this team since it was like before it was even a teenager. Now it's middle age. So when I get excited, it's because I've seen a lot of garbage in some of those tough

14:37eras. I think this is a super bowl repeating team. I think this is back-to-back talent. Some of the problems that plagued the last time they tried to defend may be addressed. I think this is a deeper team if we want to look back to that 14 team. They had so many entries in that secondary and that super bowl, like four or five of those guys wouldn't have been playing if it was any other game. And you see how they're addressing that. I think it's deeper. And the part of the game that I really pay attention to on the line of scrimmage toward the end of last season that was one of the best offensive lines in the NFL. My perception. They're all back. They're a year better. They've got everybody in place. The offensive and the defensive lines are both, I believe, going to be in a fellow

15:43elite. Top 10. And that's where the games are won. That makes Sam Darnel better. That makes the receivers better. It makes everybody better. And I think this should be the most talented team they've ever had. I go to the staff because if you go back to the offensive line issues that went back to them, remember, they had Tom Cable who was a very good line coach over his career and all of that. But I think it also steered them in certain directions towards types of linemen that probably wasn't in the best interest of finding the most talented linemen. They're looking for guys for him. And I think that they have made a switch in the last few years, last couple of years. They started listening to Steve Hutchinson, who was being consulted with on the offensive line. And they got some real guys. I mean, I think, you know, and we saw some of those, those bull rush metrics that came out, you know, they were very friendly to Abe Lucas. And it's like, yeah, that's what we see when he's out there. He's a big, you know, he's a big tough guy like what you would look for in a, in a tackle.

16:45So I think the best set of tackles they've ever had as a pair. I'm a pair. Wow. Well, you know what? You looked at me last year when I talked about JSN early in the season, maybe being the best receiver they've ever had. And you're going large. No, but this guy was special. I think these two guys at this stage in their career are the cornerstones of that line. They are the pillars of strength on both ends while, and then you add grace, able and Sundelle, who was really on the rise as the season went. I'm not going to say this is a better line than the Hutch Walter. I'm not saying that, but across the board, I think this has a chance to be one of the best. There was a little window in there when it was Walter Jones and Chris Terry where we thought, okay, that's kind of what you want, but Chris Terry just wasn't there for the long term. And so I understand what you're saying with, with no, I know how you know how great

17:46Walter Jones was. You're not saying that anybody's having to throw the joke. No, you're just saying that the tackles outlook looks pretty good. But rather, if you were to grade the group, I think this is the best. And you build an offense around your tackles, if you know what you're doing. But to me, that coaching component that you were talking about in the previous segment with the change that Mike McDonald made during the year is beyond the change itself is emblematic of an approach. And I think that, you know, he seems to have that staff kind of synced up to where there's not that one or two things that watching the team, you think that they'd be better off if they change, but they won't change because they do things for the wrong reasons. And most staffs like that where you have head coach and maybe the system's totally ideal over here, but they keep with it anyway because it's easier than changing it. You know, I think that's a really important one to to dig in on for a second. Mike McDonald's first season as head coach, they come in with, you know, late, it was a

18:47late hire does not get as much opportunity to synchronize with the personnel department. They signed some guys to one year deals that they hope kind of fit, but they find out Jerome Baker and Tyrell Dodson and Ration Jenkins and some other guys do not fit. So what do they do? They trade those guys, they release those guys, they bring in earnest Jones, they like wholesale change personnel on the defensive side that defense goes from one of the worst defenses for a lot, a large part of that season to a top five defense for the last half of the 2024 season. What does he do at the end of that season? He moves on from Ryan Grubb. First time head coach who could have easily have looked at that situation and said, well, it could be a me thing or I need to give this guy more time. He has enough confidence in what he's looking for from the offensive side to know this isn't it? He's on from Ryan Grubb. If he doesn't do those things and then you get into 2025 and we talked about the change

19:49he makes in the running back room, he is consistently shown the willingness and the clarity of mind to say we're going to make a change at any point to make sure we are aligning to the standard and the vision that we have for this team. How common do you think that is that coaches, especially coaches that knew have the confidence to make those kind of choices? I think it's very uncommon and I think it shows alignment with the front office too because you need to have that to be able to do those things. I'll give you examples. I first started covering the Seahawks when Dennis Erickson was a head coach. They had a linebacker coach named Jim Johnson. Jim Johnson is one of the great, he was Andy Reed's defensive coordinator in Philly when they were going to five championship games and the defense was really, really good. They briefly put him in charge of the defense in Seattle and it took off.

20:49Chad Brown looked like a new guy. You know what though, it just really wasn't comfortable for the head coach. He had his buddy Greg MacMac and he ended up, you know, he had a good career but they wanted Greg to call the defense for the wrong reasons. Jim Johnson leaves becomes one of the great coordinators. If you talk to coaches, great coordinators have the last 25 years, okay? In Holmgren's era, Mike had on the staff, he's a great coach. Holmgren's a great coach and we talk about him for the Hall of Fame. But he had some guys on the staff coaching offensive line at different places or guys he went to grew up with in San Francisco or whatever. They're great guys but were they the absolute best guys he could get? We knew better than that. And he lost so many along the way. Well he lost so many. Back to Chuck Knox and Tom Coffman, one of the greatest assistants in the history of the league. Yeah. So I forgot the attention but they worked together. The politics of these staffs has hard to overcome. But I think if you are so outwardly about doing things for the right reasons only, it's

21:51not then it doesn't become personal. Right? It's not personal if you're just always doing it for the right reasons. So I think we'll see because we'll see how that goes over the course of McDonald's tenure. I've said that. I think it's hard to do because he's going to have some of these guys maybe for a long time that become is that he wins a lot with and they become his guys. And then maybe for whatever reason they're not as good, then we'll see how easy it is to change because it's a little bit easier when you hear it Ryan Grubb, right? Or you have somebody that wasn't your first choice anyway in your one in some of those cases. But that would always say your first staff is it is your first staff should be your worst staff because you can't get everyone you want it usually. So you know, we'll see how it goes over the course of time. I don't think that's a battle that's won forever but I think it's been won so far. And I do think that's your question, Brian. I don't think that's totally common always. You know what I as you're talking there, I love a little thread is that the Jim Johnson

22:52piece Mike McDonald's first project as an intern with the Ravens was pulling part third down as a on the defense. And one of the bigger inputs to his analysis was Jim Johnson's Eagles defenses. You know, so yeah, it's it's it's fun. I love the connections that maybe they're getting Jim Johnson back now that you know, is it David I day bullying and I think that Chad Brown could have been a hall of famer with with Jim Johnson as his coordinator for his whole career. Absolutely. I talked to Chad actually had him on the show. We talked about that era. It's funny when you talk to Chad Brown, he will talk about Dick Leboe and the Steelers, you know, coaching and there they're yeah, peace in the zone blitz and what came up. But anyway, that is going a different direction. No, that's maybe you know, Coastal is made want to talk some stealer ball here, you know, we can. We will talk about the coastless.

23:53We will talk about the coastless. I want to ask one more thing of you Mike before I come back to you Dave. So you did have that thing that came out with, you know, who people think is the best team and whatever and the Rams are on top and everyone thinks the Rams are the best and that I mean, I'm not even like arguing that. My question is if the Rams had only added Trent McDuffey and Jalen Watson and they had not added miles Garrett and Aaron Donald. Do you think those results would be any different? Yes, because I don't. No, I think that I think it's been a title wave of those two guys and then Donald, so and remember, I'm, I'm talking to these guys like the same days they're getting Aaron Donald back. I think it gave him, I think it definitely gave him a bump. Now you can look at the odds, maybe the odds didn't change that much or whatever, but I just feel like it's been a gathering wave of momentum of expectations for them because of Garrett plus we knew this whole time Donald was going to be probably added to. I do think that like, so what did Seattle get Seattle got one number one vote?

24:58Three number two's a three in and out liar six, right? The Rams got four number one votes and two number two votes. I think the CX get another one vote without those things. Yeah. Dave, my read is that there's a lot of folks nationally who already believed that the Rams were the better team last year and that adding Trent McDuffy and Jalen Watson made them an even better team this year and that it was a fluke that the C-Hawks were able to get by them twice and when the Super Bowl. How do you, how did you see that kind of matchup between those two teams last year? Yeah, tough. You know, total respect for Rams. You know, when I thought, you know, especially as we're talking about staff and the difference differences down the stretch, how much better the C-Hawks were at the end of the season? And I think in your prior segment, you brought up some of the actual numbers in there.

26:02And I think as it always gets overlooked, the impact of special teams really was huge down the stretch. I think Jay Harbaugh is going to be a head coach. I think the job he did last year, particularly once they got Shaheed was game changing. And I think that as we look at all your EPAs and all, all the numbers, I think the team sometimes get overlooked when those plays are such huge momentum changes. And I think that's one part where maybe, maybe the Hawks, you know, what happens with Jason Myers in the in the preseason, if they get this stuff ironed out, it's like, it's like a supercharged offensive play now kickoffs,

27:04pun returns, et cetera. And they've even added with Hortons back and Shaheed and the way those tight ends come in and start playing in the backup linebackers. And again, this is part of that 23rd guy to 53. Those guys influence how your teams perform. Absolutely. Load up with backup linebackers and good secondary guys that they have. They know what they're doing. They've seen this. They know where the value of those guys. And it's not just, oh, he can be a good depth guy if we get somebody hurt. Those guys are ballers and they get after it and they pursue and they're out there trying to make plays and change the games. And I think that's a part that is just start looking at, you know, where's an offense and defense ranked. Those are big play players who have great value and maybe the difference

28:06under J Harbaugh, how they end up winning games, particularly come December and it's a great contrast in the rosters of these teams because the Rams are so top heavy with those big stars and names. I don't think that Aaron Donald and Miles Gerrard are going to be out there in the field on the punch coverage team, right? So I think the sheet, if they don't get, get Shahid last year to win the Super Bowl, I say no. Yeah. So, you know, that's a huge component that is important to the Seahawks and the Rams are playing catch up trying to, trying to make it important, but can it really be a part of your DNA if you don't, if you don't come by it naturally. And I think the Seahawks do and it's a big advantage for them. Do you and your wanders around the league? I assume you find some differences in how teams approach special teams and and I'm curious if there's like one or two things that that stand out to you that that you bring up, Mike. I mean, does that what does the head coach care about?

29:08You know, I always say to understand an owner, you have to understand what it is about owning the team that makes it fun for them, right? I think when you look at head coaches, like what is it about coaching the team that they're most interested in, right? And we know that some of these guys are, they're offensive play colors. That's what they're interested in. And we know other guys are, you know, you could be an offensive coach, you could be Dan Campbell's, an offensive coach, would be not the same as, you know, Sean McVeigh, right? He's got a visceral toughness component to his team that shows in the special teams and how they play. That some of that travel with Aaron Glan is bad as they were in the other phases, they were good in that phase. So I do think it is a lot somewhat organizational, but it's, but the head coach of the team sets the priorities of the team in a lot of places. And I think you see that in Seattle, you see that in the Rams. I mean, the Rams aren't trading McVeigh. You know, they put on a Super Bowl and they've, you know, been doing another one and they've been on the doorstep a couple of better times.

30:10So there's a lot of different ways to try to win the games, but the, the way your head coach, what's important? Your head coach is really going to be a lot of what you're about. Well, I think the interesting piece there is if Mike McDonald had come up under someone other than John Harbaugh, who is a special team's coach in the day, does he value it the same way? Does he run things the same way? I don't know. So you are a little bit of the product of who raised you. And, and I think that's shown up to some extent here. You guys have mentioned the Coastal is a couple of times and the ownership. And we should touch on that because we did a show, the three of us, we talked about ownership through the decades. If you guys, by the way, anyone listening, if you missed that episode, look it up. It was awesome. I'm not saying that because it was on this channel. It was just great, great stuff from Dave and Mike about the history of this franchise and how ownership has shaped things and some what ifs about Bill

31:11Walsh and all sorts of amazing stories. So I highly recommend you check out that episode. I've watched it myself a couple times just to listen to you guys talk. But Dave, it is talk about a different era. I made the observation that we heard more from the coastlines in 24 hours than we did from the Allens in 30 years. And that has not stopped. They are tweeting both Vinod and Neo. They're tweeting regularly. They're tweeting about their new dog whose first name is the letter C and his last name is Hawk. They are interacting with fans. And I guess my first question for you is, how much do you think ownership will be a story this year? You know, that's a great unknown. It's really hard to predict. We don't know those people. They operate in different circles.

32:11That's for certain. I don't know their business history. I haven't studied that. I don't know where they are on the Forbes 500 or whatever. They're successful people. Sometimes those people are jerks. Sometimes they don't know how to run an organization. Sometimes daddy gave them the money. There's all sorts of things that we just don't know. And it's a different error. What would Ken Bearing have been like if he'd have got on social media? My God, it's horrifying when the possibilities could have been. Or you know, it's just really, it's just really, really hard. We look at the history. The Nordstrom era was a big success. They were local. They had, they were community minded. They were well enough capitalized. It's not like these guys. It's not like the new ownership.

33:12And you look around the league and might contestify better than I, which which teams, which franchises have good ownership? Does it make a difference? Sure. Absolutely. First of all, do you have enough money? Can you do it? Are you willing to? I don't care if you're a fan. You know, it's interesting with Paul Allen. He would sit on the, in the front row under the basket at the trailblazer's games. And then you'd never see him at the sea hawks. He was a great owner for the sea hawks. So it remains to be seen. I wouldn't, I don't see red flags. I don't, I don't sense that yet. Yeah. So some of the, yeah, some of the lessons I've seen is I think, you know, owners can get better as they go along like you learn, you know, you learn from some mistakes. I think that, you know, I have no idea. I don't know what's going on behind the scenes in Carolina, but we haven't heard it from David Tepper for a while, right? We used to hear about him all the time.

34:12The owner there, he came in, you know, it had been very successful in hedge funds and, and boy, he was kind of a mess there for a while, right? Where you're like, what are these guys? The terrible owner. Well, they must be managing him better because you never hear him. You never hear of him anymore, right? So things can evolve over time. We should talk to Dave Lyman, Stanford guy, right? I mean, we know the coasts those come from sun micro systems, right? We know sun stands for standard Stanford University network. Maybe we need to stand, maybe Richard Sherman and Dave Lyman on here to talk a little Stanford for us. But I think most of us would say the best owners are kind of in the background to the football operation, because most of us look at it in terms of what's best for the football operation, right? Well, we're not as much into like what's the business ties and how much money they're making. We look at everything through how do you win the games? And not every owner's like that. You know, that's not always, I mean, that they all want to win the games, but sometimes they're in it for the business component of it, right?

35:12As much as anything. Obviously, Jerry Jones is an extreme there and he's a football guy, obviously played football, but he's a business guy almost first. So I think that seeing them out in social media and all that stuff, it's a honeymoon period. I think it's pretty harmless, but as you go along and it starts, if we're to continue in the vein of wins and losses and reacting, I don't know when Magic Johnson reacts to the commanders losing a game. Is it that big of a deal? I know this, the football people wish he wouldn't do it, right? So I think that'll be a test for anybody who has the ultimate power, you own the team, it's your team, you can do whatever you want. You can say whatever you want. You're maybe invested on game day and you may not be happy about a decision they made or you may have questions about it. To the extent that any of that is visible or or trickles out, I think it's not helpful for the football people. So that'll be just a couple of hours. It was, it was a great humor component to the latest hard knocks, which really was a wonderful insight.

36:19Into the into the franchise and and particularly for fans who haven't been around the team that had quarters the behind the scenes. I thought that was a real interesting look and when when Schneider and McDonald looked at each other, it's easy. Just went some more super balls. Dave, that that to me is that's part of the story here and why I think this could be bigger, a bigger story than most transitions, even though an NFL franchise selling is always a big story because you've never had an NFL franchise that just won a Super Bowl, just had the executive of the year, just has like the young hot coach that everybody is Gaga over and a young core and have them be sold. Like that's never happened. So you're in one hands like the storyline has been, wow, you've got this turnkey organization that you're taking over. On the other hand, and I've seen this, we've all seen this in business, let alone sports.

37:22I always liked taking over products and businesses that were in terrible shape because it was not going to get worse and everything I did was going to be making that line go up. And I looked fantastic, right? You take over something that is humming and as accomplished, one of the hardest things to do in sports, people assume this is going to happen again. The Seahawks may never win another Super Bowl. And I'm not saying I want that to be an outcome, but that's how hard it is to do it. Someone could still, someone's flipping that audio, but you're going to hear that a lot now. I'm sure I'm sure. But, but this is, we know what do they call it in real estate, a turnkey. Right. Property. Right. Absolutely. It's a push button car. But if it doesn't, if it doesn't perform to that level, if they do have, just keep in mind, the first like most, like the tepid, most tepid criticism that came out, which was Vinod talking about being a Steelers fan.

38:26He couldn't resist clapping back to what people said about him in that like very innocuous moment. What happens when somebody comes after them for a losing streak for a bad plan? It didn't work when the ownership wanted to capitalize on the team's name to build his real estate business. That's not what these guys are about. No, no, I don't think that's their money. They don't need this to make more money. I don't see like money for everybody that's got everybody wants more money, no matter how much you have. It's just the way most people are, are what you would really have to trip on sensitive body parts to follow this up. The way it stands. Look, I think we're all, I think we're also capable enough to know, well, okay, let's just say they didn't win a Super Bowl for the next 10 years.

39:30You'd be able to know if what real ownership probably played in that if it did something dumb, right? I mean, if they couldn't get the resources or they wanted to do this or go in the direction there, you know, those are all. The fingerprints of ownership are not that hard to see on when a ship gets certain steer to different way. And what we hear from different things. I got to jump in because you're making me think about something else and I'm not going to bring up this person because of why he was in the news recently. But how do you think Jed York is viewed as an owner before this whole off field thing, but taking over from the department, like taking over from all the championships and then 30 years of never winning one, but going to the Super Bowl quite a bit generally having some success. How do you think he is viewed? Well, to me, he's viewed as somebody who was in over his head when he first started and then got better. I think, you know, yeah, they didn't I didn't win a Super Bowl. They were leading Super Bowl by double figures in the fourth quarter.

40:30I think it's not his fault that Patrick Mahomes on the other side or whatever, right? I mean, I think they've been very successful the last 10 years or so with him. I think he's improved from where he was before. You know, now he's probably compromised obviously. I mean, that doesn't help him, but I think that would be an example like there's a lot of there's a lot of people that would have owned the 49ers worse than he did the last 10 years, I think. From another perspective, not so long ago, I think there was a portion of the constituency who would have loved to have Steve Bommer by the Seahawks as a local guy that maybe his connections to Paul Allen. And the similarities that that maybe we need a local guy who is highly capitalized like Bommer may he might be a great owner.

41:30So you do salary cat management, you know, could be really good. New way of doing things. Other partnership that went as skew. Not everybody knows the story you guys are talking about. So it's for people that don't follow the NBA closely or what's gone on there, but public Tory deserves. So has gotten some great credit for breaking a story about how Steve Bommer and the Clippers kind of circumvented the salary. Cap or how they calculate things there, paying, you know, paying quite Leonard under the table essentially. And now Steve Bommer has been, you know, has a lot of repercussions. I think a suspension. I think they lost five draft five first round picks. There's like all sorts of stuff. It's a pretty historic. Reprimand for an owner where look, you know, speaking of the J. York thing and, you know, you look at what what happened to Robert Kraft when he had his issue. Absolutely nothing. There was literally no repercussion from the league for what he did.

42:34What happens with J. York? Probably absolutely nothing in the NFL. I don't know of many situations where there's anything that comes back to owners as repercussions. I think a big difference. So is that York was convicted of something, you know, and, and Kraft was not. So I think there could be something for York. We'll see it. Maybe it's not going to affect the football product. I wouldn't think. But yeah, you know, you're, you're, you're right on that that I think. Yeah, I don't know the NBA as well as the NFL, but I've always, I felt like David Stern, especially like a Randall league more than the owners. I feel like the owner is sort of run the league in the NFL. Well, and this is, this is definitely departure from a 2026 C.O.X. season preview episode. But I do just, it brings up to me the other story that was really big yesterday, which is about what's going on with Bill Belichek and North Carolina. I don't want to go deep here, but I bring it up that. This is a guy that was considered the best coach, maybe ever.

43:37Then lost his quarterback, didn't have success, seemingly couldn't get a job in the NFL, which was also interesting. And then did not do well in the college ranks. And now is covered in scandal on and off the field. I just think it's a, it's a human story of people think you can reach greatness and that that is something that endures. But man, that's not how life works. Like you, you have to sustain who you are in order to maintain. Every day, it's the message is get out of the hawks, the process. It's an everyday thing. You know, you don't excellence is a habit, not an occurrence. And maybe that's what it is with Bill, check. You know, you lose your way a little bit. You forget what your principles are. What got you there? And I think that's probably human nature who, you know, who are any of us to judge.

44:41That sort of thing. You can just see when it works and when it goes off the rails. I mean, you know, absolutely, I always say absolute power corrupts absolutely. And I think, I think that helps to have some kind of checks and balances for all of us, right? Anybody who has the power to do anything. You know, the worst parts of human nature are going to be part of that. So, you know, what worked well in New England with a complex, you know, tension between Brady and Bellasheck and craft looks different when you pull one of those things out of there or another one out. Or someone gets to do it whatever they want to do. And so, you know, I think, spinning it back to the Seahawks to just be interesting to see how it works here because the perception has been. I think the reality has been that, you know, when Paul Allen bought the Seahawks, his net worth was enough to buy every team in the NFL and maybe every team in the NBA and half of them in hockey. You know, and so the Seahawks were a relatively small part of his empire. Even though important to his heart all that, he had a mistake in him after, you know,

45:44Eski Stadium where he watched games with his dad, all of that, I get that. But that's not the way, you know, that's not the way it is now. When you buy an NFL team, it's a bit, usually it's a bigger part of your portfolio, so to speak. And so you're probably going to have the owners be more hands-on with the running of it. And I don't think that that can be a good thing. But I think, I think it's been so great that set up the way that it has been that, you know, the perception has been that it can't get better. Would you agree with that? That it's not going to be better, whatever it is. There's a consistent element that's a really easy to pinpoint from back when Pete started, which is a pretty long, what are we looking at? 16 years and three super balls is John Schneider. In a case where you have a guy who has proven, there was a little dip in there, no question.

46:49But for the success has been John Schneider. And as long as he's here, I think his influence among from the team, to the ownership, to the staff, to the players is going to be pretty well locked in. Yeah, it's, I agree with you, Mike, that I think that it's going to be hard for it to be better. I think there are places where it can be better. But that's where I kind of want to start closing with you guys on. As I know, you guys have places to be and fun stuff to do. When you look at this 2026 Seahawks team, Mike, for you first, what's your biggest question and what's your biggest area of confidence around this team going into this season? I think the biggest area of confidence is around the head coach for me. I think Mike McDonald's proven to be really good. I haven't seen anything that concern about him only encouraging. I think he's come a long way too from the beginning there.

47:49I think he's developed more of a public confidence about him just from doing this and knowing he can do it. That's probably where the strength is. I mean, the look, their behavior around the cornerback situation, cornerback situation suggests there's some worry there. I think the head coach can overcome some of that, but that's probably it. I think a bigger worry is just not really a worry, but you spend the whole off season talking about why this team is going to be different from all of the other teams that have success at the highest mountain top. They're doing this and that. Can you buy all that stuff for the whole off season? It's just human nature. You're not immune to the things that have affected every other team. You think you're going to be different than all of the other parents in the history of parenting. You think you're going to do this different? You're not different. You just won the Super Bowl. You can say that it's a new year and all that stuff. You just won the Super Bowl. There are people that want credit for that or this or that. You can't say that that doesn't exist for the first time in the

48:53history of humanity. They're going to have some of those challenges of having an X on your back. You won the Super Bowl. You won it last year. Can you be as hungry after a great meal? I don't know about you and me. Dave and I probably can. We can eat a lot. But you know what I mean? You did just win the Super Bowl. You summoned the mountain. It's a place every year. You can say you're still as hungry. That's the best of that that may not make it easier to be as hungry. Dave, this is a great football thing and a humanity thing because I've asked this question before, which is one, to my point, I've made this case like you can only be so thirsty after you've drank glass of water. Same concept. You can only be so refreshed after however many naps. You know, like all those things. But at the same time, when you had your first kiss,

49:55was that were you done after that? Did you never want to have another kiss after that? After you experienced your first concert? Yeah, I'm keeping this PG. Yeah, complacency is a very real thing and it has to go down to the inside of who you are. And I think Pete did a great job with Schneider when they when they started judging that grid. What up guys? Bit fought through. What did it take them to get here? And one of the biggest things that nobody's ever been able to figure out is how is a player going to perform when he's been given a contract of more money than he ever thought he would ever have in his life? Is he going to put in the kind of work that it takes to climb to the top? Everybody deals with that. You beat that by the kind of person you get. You look at a you look at a Leonard Williams.

51:01He's made all the money in the world. He's a better player now. I suspect he'll have another great year. Demarcus Lawrence could have retired. He wants to come back. He wants more. You know, tell me when he lines up, he isn't going to be roaring off that ball. That's the kind of guy you have when you have leaders like that in that room that everybody loves. And you see when money starts getting handed out that everybody else in that locker room is happy about it. I think that's how you overcome what we call human nature because your human nature is defined differently. I know. Hey, nothing personal, but I was at Laosie offensive. I got my ass kicked day after day playing football. And you get the what is your choice? You get up and try to figure out a way to win. I think a guy who comes through that sort of experience are the guy you're going to want

52:04on December 30th when it's cold and you've got broken bones and you're having to win a game in the fourth quarter. Yeah. And you'll have thing. We don't know what the big challenge for this team is going to be. We know in retrospect, the Super Bowl winner, the Pete Carroll Super Bowl winner team had the disaster of the next Super Bowl where it turns the strengths of the teams on against itself. You know what I mean? That was a lot. But also the entire secondary was injured to the point that they shouldn't have been playing in that game. And we talk about the last play. Well, that they were in real control of that game. And the favor of getting her so scared of the game. But yeah, but you just don't know what I'm saying bigger, more bigger picture than that. We don't really know yet what the big challenge for this team will be. A year from now, are they resigning Sam Darnold? There's just a lot of ways the team could

53:07change that creates a challenge or you start paying a lot of people. Now you don't make the mid-season trade that could help put you over the top or whatever. I'm going to be greedy and try to get in one more question in the last couple of minutes here. One thing, what's the one thing for each of you that has to go well for the Seahawks to have a chance to repeat as Super Bowl winners? Mike, you first. Yeah, I'll go with the offensive coordinator. I think that Brian Flurry seems good. We've heard great stuff about it. Nobody hasn't done it before. So I think that component of it would be hugely helpful because it's a little bit beyond the specific control of the head coach. We have a ton of confidence in. And it's a very important position as we know from two years ago. So I'm generally optimistic about it. I'm excited to kind of see what are you going to do. But until it happens, you really don't know. Totally agree. It's the absolute number one unknown.

54:13And how many do you try a package with Jalen Milro throwing a pitch on the goal line? You know, there's, they're going to come plays where we scratch our head. If those are minimized, I think they're loaded and set to be a top contender. Yeah. Love it. Amazing stuff from Mike Sando and Dave Bowling. Thank you guys so much for joining. And we'll be doing this a lot more during the season. Take care guys. Thank you. Pleasure. All right. That was Mike Sando and Dave Bowling amazing, amazing insights from those guys as always. And we'll have, I can't remember if Mike and I have talked about this, but I, because I just assume it, we're going to be doing every Friday again. I think so. I'll, I'll verify that with Mike, but you know, and Dave comes on pretty regularly as well. And

55:14they bring not only expertise in terms of all the years they've covered football, but also their awareness of the Seahawks organization, the people that still work there, the people that have worked there. And they like so many of you and us have seen what a dysfunctional and losing organization looks like up close and personal as well as what it took to turn it around. Who are the key people and how that plays out over decades. And this particular season, one of the things that makes this season special. This is only the second time in the history of this franchise that the Seahawks have an opportunity to win back to back Super Bowls. The only other time, the Seahawks were in this situation, they got back to the Super Bowl. And they should have won back to back Super Bowls. So how does this team compare to that team, the 2014 Seahawks? Where are

56:22they different? Well, one of the things, one of the areas where they are different is in how much, getting back to the point I was making before I welcomed the guys onto the show and about how much continuity there is with the snap count of this team versus last year's team. People forget the 2014 Seahawks was a vastly different team than the 2013 Seahawks. They lost all sorts of talents on that team. And that is one massive difference. Another difference in the other direction is that 2014 Seahawks coaching staff was intact. They still had Dan Quinn as the defensive coordinator. They still had Darrell Bevel as the offensive coordinator. They did not lose anybody. At that point, the teams that were interested in Dan Quinn to be their head coach were not willing to wait till after the Super Bowl in 2013 to hire him. So he ended up missing that round and coming

57:31back to the Seahawks for another year. Next year, when they got back, the Falcons were willing to wait until that point and hired a way, Dan Quinn, at that point to be their head coach. This year, this past year, Clint Kubiak, there was a chance that teams were not going to wait for him. The Raiders did. And he chose to move with that team. And that's a difference. And you heard from the guys here, Brian Flurry and what that looks like is going to be a difference between this year's team and last year's team. What we don't know is what kind of difference? Is it going to be better? Is it going to be worse? Is it going to be the same? And this is what I would say is another misnomer on my list of misperceptions about the Seahawks this off season and about the 2025 Seahawks. Clint Kubiak did not take the offense with him. The Seahawks will be running

58:34the same offense and many of the same plays with many of the same people and many of the same coaches that they did in 2025. Jake Petz, still here. Justin Outen, still here. John Benton, still here. Like you can keep going through the list. There is a lot of continuity in the coaching staff and they will still be running outside zone. They will steal you running under center and play action and bootlegs and all the things that worked for them last year. But they will not be the same offense. They will be differences and one of these questions that we have is what are some of those differences? I have some clues. I will share some of those clues in just a second. Before we do that, I do want to take a moment just to give a shout again to Pemko for sponsoring this season preview episode. I have been a Pemko customer for decades at this point with my wife. They have always been

59:37there when we have run into trouble. Tree hits our house, demolishes part of our house. We have a flood. We have all sorts of situations. They have always been there. They have always had a smile on their face when a time has been really challenging. And I trust them. And they are a Pacific Northwest company who is invested in this region. And I am really excited to be working with them. I really appreciate them coming on. Let's take a second to hear from some of our other sponsors as well. First one I wanted to share is a place that can help you get tickets for this game next week. Football season can mean a lot of sitting on your couch. Sponsored today's video Seekyke deserves a huge shout out for helping us get out of the house. Seekyke is the number one rated ticketing app with over 35 million downloads. There are more than 70,000 events listed on Seekyke including

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1:01:40where when we hit it, we are going to make a donation to Spokane Fire Relief together. So code HawkBlogger12 gets you 12% off your next favorite cup of coffee, your next favorite piece of merch. You see Coupe wear in this Dodo stuff all the time. I love my Dodo hat. I love my Dodo shirts. So great chance to take advantage of this. I'll be doing some coffee with people segments. You saw my one with Rachel, my wife. I'm trying to see if I can get one with the cups. We'll see if we can make this fun. We're going to try to do some segments throughout the season with Cooper. We'll see what's possible there. But you don't have to wait for that. Take advantage of this deal. Code HawkBlogger12 for 12% off. And then obviously simply Seattle.com, Code HawkBlogger15. And not only do you get 15% off, you get your favorite news, Seahawks gear, whatever it is that you like. But we've been doing a lot of good. You guys have helped us hit some sales milestones there. Together with Simply Seattle donated $7,000 to Spokane Fire Relief. So really, really appreciate

1:02:48my partners over at Simply Seattle. Really appreciate all you guys for supporting and getting a great deal, getting some great gear, and helping some people that are in need. So all that makes me thrilled to be working with Simply Seattle and appreciate all of you for supporting them. So thank you for supporting our sponsors. Okay, so we'll be joined here soon by Mr. Brian Baldinger. And after that, we're going to be joined by Jeffrey Dean Morgan. And it's very possible. We're going to be joined by both of them at the same time, which would be a fun little experiment. And then later on, we'll be joined by Lindsay Rhodes. So a lot of great stuff still coming. But let's talk about where some of the changes might be in this offense. I've done some digging between the Kyle Shanahan 49ers offense in 2025 and the Clint Kubiak offense in Seattle in 2025. Here's one of the ways that things

1:03:50differed. Let's look at personnel groupings first. The sea ox were in 11 personnel. They were 11 personnel team because everybody is by default 11 personnel is the most common personnel grouping, right? But for the sea ox, their next highest personnel grouping, their heavy group was their 12 personnel group. That's when they brought into tight ends. That was 30% of their snaps. For the 49ers, their second heaviest personnel usage or their second highest personnel usage in their heavy personnel was 21 with Kyle use check at fullback. That was 36% of their snaps. That was almost as common as 11 personnel for them. Then basically the third most used personnel grouping for both of them was around 11 and a half percent. So this is one thing that is going to be interesting. Will we see more 21 personnel with Brian Flurry in Seattle?

1:04:56Now I think before the Robbie Uts injury who was lost for the season unfortunately, I think the answer was going to be yes. But now without Robbie Uts, we're going to find out. There was a really telling comment from Brian Flurry when he was available during training camp, which was just one time that he really likes having another back in the backfield and they will find alternative ways to get more people in the backfield, whether it's a true fullback or not. That might be a tight end. That might be a receiver. We've seen Jackson Smith and Jigba Rashid Shaheed others in the back field. That doesn't mean they're going to be doing typical fullback things, but it does give you another person in the backfield. So we are going to see how this plays out. Once Zach Sharbanay's back, are we going to see a package where there's going to be a Zach Sharbanay and Jadari in price on the field at the same time? I don't know because Zach Sharbanay is not back yet and so he's not

1:05:58practice yet. But I do think there's some interesting potential. Emmanuel Wilson, who is a larger back. Are we going to see some combinatorial packages there where he is used in interesting ways? This is one way where things could be different. Another way that things can be different is use of motion. This is comparing the 49ers motion rates with the Seahawks and it also has play actions. We'll talk about both of these at the same time. With the 49ers and keep in mind, motion is different than a shift. We talked about this with Matt Hasselbach last year making sure this was clear to everybody because we like to learn football on this show together. Motion means somebody moving at the snap. Shifting means someone moves before the snap and then becomes set. So if you see someone move from one side of the formation to the other and then they are set, that is a shift, not a motion.

1:07:01So the motion rate for the 49ers last year on all snaps was 68.5%. For the Seahawks, it was 57%. That is a significant difference in the amount of motion at the snap for the 49ers versus the Seahawks. If you break it down on the run plays versus the pass plays, the interesting thing there is is a bigger difference on running plays for the 49ers versus the Seahawks than passing plays. Both of them still 49ers had higher motion than the Seahawks but it was a 64% motion rate on running plays for the 49ers, only 51% for the Seahawks. That is a big difference. On dropbacks, on passes, it was 72% motion rate for the 49ers, 63% for the Seahawks. So again, still more but much bigger difference. And so I think you are going to see players in motion on the snap, on some of

1:08:05these toss sweeps, these outside zones to try to get additional leverage and action on those plays, I will say that's something that has been observable in practice. So I don't think this is a question in my mind. I think it is just a matter of how much more there's going to be use of motion, whether I don't think it's a question of whether there will be more motion for the Seahawks this year. The other thing that's also kind of interesting is play action rate. The 49ers didn't use play action as much as Clint Kubiak did. This is something that Sam Darnold is one of the best play action passers in the NFL. He is one of the best under center passers in the NFL. The 49ers used play action less, not a lot less but less. And they used shotgun a lot more. That's going to be an interesting thing to watch as well about whether Brian Flurry

1:09:08is going to be adhering to what Kyle Shanahan did or whether he's going to try to maximize what his players potentially are best at. In the ideal world, Brian Flurry brings things that make players better at things where they were deficient as well. It'd be great if Sam Darnold became a better shotgun passer. It'd be great if the Seahawks became more proficient in some of the running plays that they weren't last year. All those things would be great. But there's also a matter of do you build on your strengths or do you try to weaknesses the debate that rage and there's a lot of you on what's the best way to approach. Some other data here we've got this from Sumer. Some of this is from Sumer. Some of this is from our pals at FTN Fantasy. So screen rate. The 49ers had a higher utilization of the screen game than the Seahawks.

1:10:12This is also something that people do not know about the Seahawks from last year. The Seahawks became one of the better screen teams in the NFL as last year went along. So now you've got Ken Walker has left. Ken Walker was very effective in the screen game. It's part of why Kansas City was so excited to shell out all that money to bring them in. I think Jedi and Price is going to be effective in that game. I think Rashid Shaheed has the potential to be effective in that game. I think Emmanuel Wilson has the potential to be effective in that game. We will find out because screens there's a little bit of a symphony to running a screen and running it effectively. And you have to get good at the timing. The quarterback has to be good at the offensive line has to be good at selling it. There's all sorts of things that have to work and they did work on it last year when I

1:11:12talked to Clint Kubiak. It was one of the things he was most proud of was how they were able to improve on that aspect of their game. Does that sustain into this year? So those are some other big differences, but they're not the only differences between the 49ers team and offensively and the C-OX offense. And we're going to find some of those other things in just a second. So one of the pieces that stands out to me watching this C-OX team play and practice right now is the use of crossers and digs. And if you look at the difference between the C-OX and the 49ers offense last year, one of the biggest difference in uses of routes was that the 49ers ran

1:12:15the dig route 14% of the time versus under 10% for the C-OX. They also ran the pivot route more. And basically a lot of this points to a 49ers offense, a Shanahan offense that values the kind of horizontal rub, routes and crossing routes. And I think one of the things you're going to see is everyone thinks about Rashid Shaheed and they think deep threat vertical. I think you're going to see Rashid Shaheed running away from people horizontally in this offense in a way that they didn't really do as much last year. But I digress. Let's bring in the best in the biz. He is here for our season preview Brian Baldinger. It is so great to see you my friend. How are you doing? I'm good. I'm actually here in San Francisco. Funny you were talking. I just got off the radio here with Terrell Owens, who was pitching like a pickleball tournament he's playing. But we were talking about the offense. You talk about Brian Flurry, you know, and coming from San Francisco and adopting some of Kyle's

1:13:18things. I think all those things that you were just talking about are real. And I think something that's Seattle. I just watched him in the preseason watching him set up certain plays or play action and a little bit more of the run action in the play action more than just wide zone boat like that kind of thing. I think you're going to see a little bit more of that. I think that's that's true and that's you would expect that. Brian always spent six years here in San Francisco. He's sent a lot of those a lot of those meetings install meetings and probably picked up a lot of good ideas. Are there other things that you're anticipating? Like when you're looking at a new offensive coordinator who's never called plays, you know, you don't have a history to look back on. Are there any things you're kind of anticipating from him that he'll bring to Seattle? Well, you know, some of this is, you know, how much can Sam do with the line of scrimmage? How much is basically programmed to Sam during the week about a particular look if we're running it strong week, if we're

1:14:19going to run it at all, if we're going to get out of that run, what we're going to, you know, audible too. So a lot of it is just programmed during the week and then basically the look determines where you go with the ball. A lot of these situations. So so much has done it to line of scrimmage. And Sam who was in San Francisco went to quarterback rehab here with Kyle Shanahan certainly under, I think for the first time in his career, really got a little taste of that. Got some of it with Kevin O'Connell, Minnesota and then, you know, with with Clint last year, it really took it to another level. So I think there's another level for Sam to go to and it could be designed. It could be things that he really likes this year. It could be the addition of, you know, certain receivers, you know, right now, Tory Horton being healthy, you know, just what they did with Shaheed once he got here in the middle of the season, like I think there's going to be some nuances that we might not know until week two or week three. So one of the things that I've been kind of going over some less understood parts of

1:15:25the 2025 C.O.C. Super Bowl team. And one of the things I haven't mentioned yet that I want to bring up with you in particular is it's an NFL that's obsessed with offense is an NFL that's obsessed with the passing game. And on the flip side, it's obsessed with the pass rush to stop the passing game, right? One of the places where the C.O.C. stood out last year is their run defense was if you look at DVOA, which is one of the the advanced metrics, the difference between the C.O.C. defensive run defense DVOA and the second best DVOA was the largest difference between two defenses in the league since 1991 with the Philadelphia Eagles and that redgy white defense. One of the best defense in history. So talk for a second about what people maybe don't understand about how valuable a good run defense can be in the modern NFL. Well, every quarterback that is, Michael Parsons just talked about

1:16:25it yesterday in Green Bay. Like if you want to be a great offense, you have to be a great running offense. You have to be able to run the ball. Kyle Shanahan's team didn't run the ball well last year. Couldn't score touchdown against Mike McDonald's defense in a playoff game. You need, so what and there's a reason why they just gave, you know, Leonard Williams a big fat extension. You know, because he's so paramount and we saw Byron Murphy just explode last year in that part of it. What's your on read? Like those three interior players and Pele and, you know, in the depth that they have. Like that's the foundation to everything that Mike McDonald is doing from their matchup zones to their disguises to a lot of the things that we see that really bother Drake made a Super Bowl game. Like that's the foundation to the whole thing was they got him into passing situations very quickly. It's one thing to be second and sixth and you can do both. But if you're second in nine, you know, or if you're second in 11, it's very difficult to dial up another run.

1:17:26Most coordinators are just going to go away from it. So you mentioned some of the names I wanted to ask you about there as well. Obviously, and I think for valid reasons, a lot of attention being paid to the adding of Miles Garrett, the adding of Aaron Donald in LA. Like those are huge, huge names, some of the best to ever do it. I feel like one of the stories that hasn't been talked about as much is Byron Murphy at 23 taking the step he did and still being young enough that he looks like he's ready to take a new step. The addition of Riley Mills, who had a big sack in the Super Bowl, and the continued evolution of Derek Hall and what's going on there. I'm curious, you know, how when you watch Byron Murphy play. First of all, there's someone that he reminds you of. I will always say, Genoacans is the comp in my mind, but is there someone he reminds you of? And what do you think he can become? Well, I would like point to a guy like Russell Maryland, you know,

1:18:27back in the days and now I played against Russell. So, yeah, you know, just a guy that literally is about as slow as anybody on the field, like just leverage-wise. Like you can't get an underneath Byron Murphy and then just the enormous power that he has. Like, you know, he's not the Dexter Lawrence. There's some of these bigger defense attackers, but his power and leverage and literally lateral movement is second to none of this business. And there is another step for him to take. Like when he came out of Texas, you know, they had- they had sweat was there. He was that bigger version that some teams are looking for. But the thing about Byron is he can- he can play a high percentage of snaps. He doesn't- he's not playing 50% or 48%. He's playing a higher percentage. So and he has past rush. So, he's really a three-down defensive tackle. Liner Williams has always had that. He's always had conditioning. He always could play a high percentage of snaps. And, you know,

1:19:27fortunately, he's been largely healthy his whole career. So, but that's what you get is she don't have to rotate these guys as often as some of these other players in his league right now, because of the endurance, his size, and his leverage of what he plays with. So, when you think about this Seahawks defense, and you think about a guy like Byron Murphy, one of the things that I think people don't necessarily understand is that he played a significant number of his snaps in the A gap as a nose attack. He's been double-panned. And he's still, if you count the Super Bowl, ended up with nine, nine and a half sacks, whatever it was. They- I can tell you, Baldi, that they are moving him around the line. He's playing some on the five tech. I've seen him out against tackles. What do you think it does for an offense when you've got guys like Thunder Williams that can move all along the line? You've got a guy like Byron Murphy that might start moving all along the line. And then you bring in guys like Dante Fowler who, you know,

1:20:32speed rush or some of these things. What does that do to an offense when you can move big guys to difference? Well, it's impossible to be predictable when you're moving guys around as much as they do. You know, and then you can add in the disguises that they line up behind like they did in Super Bowl, going to covers the hero and blitzing off the edge like they did. But, you know, when you can just, as an offensive guard or center where I was, and you see a different guy line up in front of you from play to play. And one, you know, he's shifting from a five technique to a one technique on a defensive line movement, pre-snap movement. Like those things are difficult when you're just trying to get your assignments right. And so, you know, when you stem and you change and you do those and you have those guys that can play the different positions and you can stimulate, it really throws a real wrench into some of the blocking schemes that you want to execute because you're not

1:21:34sure. Is this the guy we're double teaming right here? Are we fanning to this guy? Like, it keeps you guessing up until the snap sometimes. Well, given the fact that you're in San Francisco, you're just talking to 49ers folks. I obviously tons of attention to the Rams. And I think that makes sense. Why that's been the case. I find the 49ers one of the hardest teams to figure out going into this season because on one hand, they won 12 games last year was when one game won win from being number one in the NFC, at least from a seating perspective. And then obviously got blown out in the playoffs didn't come close really to beat and see out on either of those two games. And now you get back Fred Warner and you get back Nick Bosa, you add Mike Evans, you add OSA who I think is one of the most underrated editions. But this is one of the oldest offenses in the league. I don't know what to make of the 49ers. Are they going to be the team that is so great that nobody would have expected? Or are they just past their prime? And this is a team that's

1:22:38the literally the million dollar question. Because if they all stay healthy and that's the big if at these ages, Christian McCaffery, juice, you know, Kettle, like it's there's one thing that they always said the thing about experiences by time you get enough of it, you're too old to enjoy it. And the 49ers might be there. They don't know if Mike Evans is going to stay healthy. How Kettle is going to come back? Is Nick Bosa going to look like Nick Bosa, you know, is he going to look like defensive player of the year? Nick Bosa is he going to be an average player that is struggling to beat big A or beat Charles Cross? Like we don't know what he's going to look like. And you know, McCaffery has got a lot of snaps under his belt and they've had a hard time finding anybody to back him up. You can't take them off the field because he was the best receiver last year and he's the best runner. So now you're getting them another 400 plus touches and he's already been beat up enough where he's missed pre seasons and you know, he's had a couple, you know,

1:23:412024 was not a great year. He bounced back last year but like can Katelyn Black be that change of pace guy? They need their young players, Brian, this year, stripling black, grace and halton, they need their young players to look like what Seattle's done with their young players. They need them to step in like, whether spoon did an M and War he did, you know, they need their young players to step up and really contribute right away right now. I don't think you can just make the playoffs right now relying on some of the 10 plus year veterans that they have on this roster. Yeah, it's it is one of the most bizarre off seasons because the football things that they did for the most part, I think were pretty good. I think oh, so one of the most slept on additions. I think striplings gonna be great. I like grace and halton. I think he's an interesting edition as well for like they need move interior defensive tackles to get after the pass or they have these big guys and Collins and and CJ West that I don't know are ever going to be pass rushers.

1:24:43But I also man their off season off the field was why. Yeah, so I look at look. They were major stories, but honestly players they know what they they're paying attention. They know but it doesn't affect it really never affects them. They're down there, you know, in Australian rules football game in Melbourne last night and honestly they're enjoying themselves. They get the trip out of them. We'll see how this thing plays out one team going a week before another team going the day off. Two different flaws to fees right there, but honestly when George Kittle gets on the field and Boats to get some on the field, they're not thinking about their owner or their head coach or what some extra seaver has said about the team like they need to go earn their stripes again and look. The people coming back he was not good the second half of the season, Washington. He wasn't good the last year in San Francisco. They let him walk like what

1:25:44Steve Oh got left like they're more worried about their old guys taking care of themselves, getting healthy state on the field right now than anything that's happened on the field. Well, we're going to welcome in another guest here in just a minute. Have a little fun here, but I do have to ask you when you look at this NFC West, I'm going to assume that you think this is the best division in the NFL. Is that fair? How do you think what do you think is the one key thing for each team like each of the three teams that are realistically contending? What has to go right for the Seahawks to win this division? What has to go right for the Rams to win this division? What has to go right for the 49ers? Well, I think for the Rams. I mean obviously Matt Stafford is the MVP of the league. He was he had this best year at age 37. Like can he continue this? Because like you look if they have to go to Stetson Bennett or they have to go to Thai Simpson, it's not going to be the same. They're not he's not going to make those guys aren't making the

1:26:47throws over the middle of the Pukin Nukuah in tight coverage, which you really love blasting, you know, Nukuah at the point that the ball is arriving. Like that they're not going to make those throws. You can't expect them to make those throws. So that's key, but the other part is like it's one thing when you go get Trent McDuffey and Aaron Donald comes back and Miles Gertz, the one caution I would have is I don't think this can happen, but it can happen where you just feel like we're the most talented team we could just show up. Like I don't believe that's the DNA, that's not how Sean McVeigh is, but there's a part of you that goes like they've already been predicted to go 17 and L. Like do do you like all takes is one fourth quarter come back by a team, it might be the 49ers next week where they get beat and then they're like maybe we're not that good, maybe we're not just paper lines, maybe we do have to go like there's that's the caution I have with the Rams. They're so good on paper right now. It doesn't mean that they're going to play

1:27:51as a group like that. You can still make mistakes, you can still make penalties, you can still have miscues, you can still not be 100% ready just because everywhere you look there's basically an all-star player. Like that would be the caution there. For Seattle, like Jackson Smith and Jigmoat was so good last year. Like if anything happens to him, who does become that go to he was so good in so many big games and took games over if anything happens to him like where Sam going with the ball. Do they rely on the tight ends more? Do they check it down to you know to you know to you know to Jadarian right now like what are they going to do in that if that should happen to that team. All good stuff. Let's welcome on before we let you go. Mr. Jeffrey Dean Morgan, who's joining us from his compound out east. He was so excited ballad to be on with you that

1:28:54he joined he joined at 6.30 a.m. I think Jeff or Dean I could be very nice to meet you, Baldi. Yeah, thank you. Yeah, I got it. I got on. I thought you were getting up really early on the West Coast. I'm like, I did. I was doing statistical radio at 6 a.m. this morning. Well see you were up. Well see actually Brian was up as well. You should have been on with you should have been on with him. So Jeffrey before we let Baldi go, I know he's got to get the airport. He's got life. He's got to live. Any questions you've got for the best in the man. I just like listen to Baldi. I don't need to hear about the Niners and the Rams as much as I've heard last like 10 minutes. But I'm a big fan and very much respect every word that comes out of his mouth. He knows the game. So I don't have anything to ask. I've been listening to one thing I would say to you to both you guys is I work at an NFL films in New Jersey. All those guys have been in Seattle doing hard knocks. It's been a

1:29:55phenomenal program. Yeah, like because I think people really got to see Mike McDonald. I agree. Is there a magic elixir that he has? Obviously defense is especially but his connection to his players. I feel like that connection with this play how he talks to his players. Yeah, like it feel like it permeates to the whole team. There's just a unity that exists. Now maybe it starts with John Schneider because John's like that himself. But there's a unity within that team that it's almost hard to explain you because it's not like that everywhere coaches don't communicate and you can tell he's not doing it's just because the cameras are rolling. You know that's just as authentic as it gets. And I'm kind of glad that Seattle just opened it up and let people get to see Mike McDonald at work because it's that he's not a screamer. He's not a yell or he doesn't. Like but his teaching and the way that it's still a game of teachers. That's who these guys are. If they work coaches, they be gym teachers, history teachers. It's like what homegrown was. It's what Andy

1:30:59Reed is. Like we need great teachers in this game. And when you get that, you get great students. I love that you bring that up and it's another great example of why I always appreciate your analysis because that's not just about the ex-NOS. That is about understanding how people work and what makes them tick. And that was probably the most precious commodity this team had last year. Very talented. But the culture there is super unique. You touched on how Mike leads. But there's also the alignment between John Schneider and Mike McDonald that as you know is not the case between every GM and coach. And those two together have gone in and basically filtered out the kinds of men that they want as coaches in that organization. The types of men that they want as players. And that has helped contribute to this. So like how rare do you feel like that is to have all of

1:32:00those things in one place? It's really rare. I mean look, I mean they got rid of a hall of famed coach. You know they moved on. And you know and maybe people has passed upon who knows. But like they found a better replacement. It's not easy. They've got 10 head coach changes this year. We haven't like dozens of coordinator changes. They're all looking for somebody. And it's not what you're talking about here, Brian. It's not ex-NOS. It's teachers connection. And I mentioned this till last year before the playoffs began. But I was around the team week 17 when they went to Carolina. And the entire team was on the field warming up before the game. And some of the guys, I didn't know AJ Barner. I didn't really know big A. But they all came up to me. I was talking to you know to to Zable. That camaraderie out there on the field before that game was different than you feel almost anywhere else. It was so unique. The whole team was on the field. offense defense. Rashid Shahid coming in with that big smile of his. Like you could feel like this

1:33:05is way more than Sam Darnold playing good. This is this is the way it's supposed to be. And it rarely is like that. Amazing amazing stuff from Brian Baldinger. I'm going to let you go because I know you got a jet. It was great having you. We'll see you more in the season. I'm going up to Seattle. I'm doing your week three game. I'm doing week three in Washington. And then the following week up in Seattle. I'll talk to your Dornos week's prize. Sounds good dude Brian Baldinger check him out all over the NFL network. And we're going to roll right into Mr. Jeffrey Dean Morgan. JD. I love that guy. It is it is so great. You're making some time. He's you know I think you get it right because there's it's one thing to actually have good insights about football which honestly is even more rare now than it used to be. People just talk about random shit. But then to also get the like the personality side. Yeah he gets that. There's a lot of people that he can't do that. Exes of the nose down but to yeah exactly right to get into the personalities and

1:34:07and I think that the way these guys can interact and talking about Mike McDonald. I think the one thing that hard knocks is done which by the way was the best hard knocks in the history of hard knocks. And a lot of that has to do with Mike McDonald. And I think the world got to see what kind of a man and coach he is and the respect that that he gets without having to demand it. And yet he has it by every single one of his players and it's so fun to watch and and I mean what a guy. That's what I got out of this year's hard knocks was really what an amazing man he is. I think I think a lot of people did and one of the cool things with with Mike McDonald is I don't think that's going to change. I don't think he's got it in him to become a arrogance you know thinks he's better than other people like I just don't think that's how his DNA is coded.

1:35:10And Brian do I ever is to listen to me. I did just there for a second. Just wondering if I should disappear for a second and try to get a better. Yeah, why don't you do that? Come on back. Give me a few seconds. Let me just see if I can fix this. Yeah, that sounds good. Yeah, so I think one of the things that that is really unique about this organization and why I think it's a golden era is not only do you have a core of young talent that you've now signed to $633 million worth of extensions in the past year, but you've also got leadership that is young and aligned with the executives on how to run this thing and how the types of people that they want to bring in next when they have 12 will now I guess 11 draft picks next year they're going to get through the same filter go through the same filter of what kinds of

1:36:12people they want in that organization. All right JDM we got you back better now. Okay, so the question I was going to ask you and this is a little bit you know it's only a question I could ask you for a guest that comes on this show. You're in an industry where there's there's said to be some egos and you know some prima donnas at times I don't know anything about that industry so I don't claim to know you're not wrong, but okay do you do you find that some of the best films or shows that you work on that there's any similarities in this where it's like oh if there's people that can swallow their ego and are just there to make a great make something great that it's better is that is that something that translates at all to absolutely if you've got if you're dealing with a big ego it you're not going to make the best show you're not going to make the best film

1:37:14because you're constantly having to baby and cater and spend time away from the focus of that should be number one which is the best qualities show or a team that you can have and if you've got a you know a cog in the wheel it all goes off the rails and I think that I mean I think it's an excellent example of who the Seahawks team is and that has been assembled the last couple years under Mike and John and yeah there's a big similarity in that and I think in probably any business in your dealing with a ego what I do now because you know I'm old and have been around for a long time I have a certain amount of say in this if if we get that kind of a player on our team um

1:38:15kill them well they'll be off the show um because it really just brings everything down and you can't have that you can't have it's fascinating another kind of related thing so the Seahawks win a Super Bowl we're talking about this with Mike Sando and Dave Bowling earlier that no matter what Mike McDonald says about running it forward and we're not going to be defending Super Bowl champions it were like there is just an impossible aspect of humanity of you're not going to forget that you won the Super Bowl and it is hard to some extent to be as hungry after you've just been satiated right with with a championship so the question I have got for you like this is a little bit of a tangent but I think I can pull this together is I would bet that since you've experienced your rise in your industry and the the fame that you've achieved and the the credibility that you've got that there's an aspect of you know opportunity that comes your

1:39:17way that didn't before and that the people that want to interact with you you probably have to assess every single person like are this person like actually someone here that's authentically for me or they trying to get something for me or they just wanting to like or farm or off of me so like how have you navigated that and like would you have any guidance for these young guys in that locker room that are maybe experiencing a different type of fame and notoriety than they did before um you know it's one of those things that I think if you have you know a half a brain you can see it coming I mean it's harder when you're younger but also it's so obvious the the ones that that aren't real and but you know and going back to how you started this about the hawks coming off of winning the Super Bowl the kind of the greatest thing that has happened to us is that nobody gives it yet

1:40:18no one's talking about the Seahawks um you know I don't want to even say their name but you know that other team in our division I'm so sick of hearing about them and I've got to believe in our locker room um as cool as they are and they are a cool group you know they're very laid back in cool group when it comes to this type of thing nothing bothers them but I know in the back of their head they're pissed off and you know there's nothing better than a Seahawks with a chip on their shoulder so even bouncing out of a super bowl victory and being the defending champs people are overlooking the Seahawks and I know we've all I mean I've heard it on every talking head show for the last three months um it's an obvious thing and and yet it's real and the Seahawks from the beginning of time um I have always been a team that's had a chip on their shoulder um especially

1:41:20those great teams and I think this team going into this season um that's their motivation and that's the motivation that we want if everybody was looking at the Seahawks as the they've run away favorite going into the season I'd be concerned frankly I'd be worried because I think that's what gets into the young players heads but we've also got a group of veterans you know the Leonard Williams and the Cooper Cups that are there to kind of reel it in we've got these we've got these players that are extensions of Mike McDonald in a way that I've never seen really and maybe it became more obvious in watching something like Hard Knocks um the leadership qualities that these older players have and the younger players also being so eager for that knowledge um and not a lot of egos I'm seeing even with the younger players that

1:42:22could come in real cocky you know these guys could come in real cocky strutting their shit and you know they're not they're from what I'm seeing and hearing they're all out there busting balls um and I think that that has to do it starts at the top it starts you know well I won't go all the way to the top because I don't know the new owners uh yeah um but you know I'm gonna go with John and Mike and they set this tone and look I'm excited about this season for everything that we've just talked about in the last 10 minutes um I like I like having people overlooking us and I don't know I people say it's a specific Northwest I kind of call bullshit on that but but but sure let's say um you know we're not in a big market well we just sold our team for the most money in the history of a sports franchise so we're doing okay up in the Pacific Northwest that nobody knows about um I don't buy that I think it's uh it's uh

1:43:27it's uh it's a it's a seahawk thing it's a seahawk thing it's a seahawk thing uh I do I do think there's a little Northwest thing but I I get you on that we're talking to Jeff Jeffery again I heard you talking about that I you we've been around that hawks have been around for you know a long time since you know mid 70s and look Seattle uh I get it you know it hurt who it hurts if anybody it hurts us on our our we have to trap um because no matter where we go it's it's a flight it's a long flight uh especially it is back east uh trips um and I hate to point it out but we have the best road record in leagues for the last couple years and so uh suck it and everybody that's like uh we don't know what to say uh we're talking about the Rams because they're in LA no you're not you're talking about the Rams because they're worried about the seahawks and they're doing everything in their power to stack that team but I hate to be the bearer of bad news for all the

1:44:29Rams fans this is gonna be a war of attrition and by the time we hit the end of season I'm not seeing some of those Rams on the field and we may have that luck too but it's not it's not on paper what it is now today is not what's going to be in December that's exactly right I think I mean health is one of the most I'm not super superstitious anymore talking about health is one thing that I get superstitious about still in the seahawks and the Rams were remarkably healthy the 49ers were not and that's not to say the seahawks and Rams didn't have any health issues because they certainly did the seahawks misty men worry for part of the beginning of the year that I miss weather withers spoon julian love mist a lot of the season uh Charles cross miss the last three games like other budget guys were gone but that is a huge factor in any season a huge factor and you know this year this year unfortunately we're pretty dinged up on the defensive side of the ball I still have

1:45:29high hopes that you know even warrior will be back but I'm real sad about bud I really wanted to see him out there on the field I think he was going to be another another many even warrior and Michael's going to use them all over the field and I was so excited to see what he could do were you know if we want to talk about some concerns I'm a little uh I got I got my thoughts on our our cornerback situation um that's a little bit of a concern uh especially could I ask you something there would you feel better if reek will and mistil you know what I asked myself that yesterday and today uh what was the answer um look I know what we got rid of him and god I wouldn't mind having one on the team right tomorrow

1:46:29no i'm sure it's clear i'm as minified pretty well be into the season we had some issues with them at the top of the season um uh I think he he was one of those players we kind of just were talking about that had some ego stuff going on that I think needed to get checked um might check it and he ended up coming back and having a strong second half the season and you know john's got a philosophy of he's not gonna he's not gonna pay what he doesn't think you're worth um and so that was the end of reek even though I think he he closed out the season pretty well uh that being said we've made some crazy roster moves than last just in the last couple days and so you wonder you know what uh what they're seeing on the field you've been there every day what are you seeing on the field in that cornerback spot well so it's fun to you ask that I I went through two-thirds of training camp and the story for me was man the

1:47:33offense has been the better unit this is surprising to me and I was very steadfast that this wasn't the defense was bad it was the offense it was really good Cooper Cup I think had a remarkable training camp that I just I talked to other guys they're like wow he's been really good you don't expect that from Cooper Cup at the stage of his career yeah and then you know Tory Horton when he was on the field which was most a camp he was really good JSN was still JSN Rashid Gheed looks really dangerous JDR and Price looks like he's going to be very like Sam Darnold looks very much in command so that was all really positive but it got to the point where I was like it's so much that I'm starting to wonder about the cornerback position like there's not a lot of people making plays on the football and literally two days later the Terry and Arnold news comes out and then a week later the Travon digs news comes out and you know then a few days after that they make a trade for Avery Smith I mean yeah that's that's three cornerbacks that you add now technically

1:48:35Terry and Arnold not really added but but you add three to your potential roster in a span of like 11 days I think it's pretty clear like it's like people will say whatever they want publicly they're in lies at concern even in you know this week one matchup we need to cornerbacks spoon can't be everywhere he tries I will say Josh Jones had a nice count injuries is you know something I really hope even more he comes back sooner than then I think he is like what do you what's your what's your current feeling I think he's going to miss week one I mean I think that's the safe probably play both physically and and for my heart but man I sure would like to see him out there I saw him I saw some video him running this week and he looked good but then you know in the hard

1:49:38knocks it showed him going and talking to Mike a couple times and I just didn't feel like he was there mentally maybe even like you know and I want him there mentally I want him there 100% physically and mentally and it's a tough game so we'll see where he plops in well we've got you for another couple minutes and I'll just say on that front I mean I had the video out there yesterday showing him running out of the practice field and that people are excited about that that's good but he was running out there without his helmet which means he was very likely not to be participating in the practice and it is Friday or yesterday was Thursday they're playing in six days from then like so the likelihood that he is going to be a full go in practice and that they are going to feel fine about him getting his first real practice reps and then playing in the game seems really unlikely especially because week two you get the long break it's a Wednesday to Sunday transition I think I think it's realistic to hope that he's ready for week two

1:50:44but it might be longer than that I mean they play Arizona in week two do they really yeah I mean I really need him in week two then as well I mean look it throws away I'd love to see him in week one but I don't think that's realistic and then if we're because he's missed you know so much time let's make sure he's 100% and he's hit with all his assignments I'm sure he is and wait until after Arizona because if we can't beat Arizona then we've got bigger problems than just Nick you know yes for sure for sure so what's what are you most excited about going into this season I'm excited to be honest with you I'm really excited to see what Sam's up to I mean I know our defense is going to be great and look we're going to deal with some injuries but you know by week three four

1:51:46we're going to be doing our thing so I'm really excited to see Sam and the offense new OC I think a lot of it's going to be the same I'm a little bit worried just because it's in my nature to worry a little bit about the the running back situation I sure wish you know Jarvan A was back just because but I really like what I've seen a price but I haven't seen him other than you know playing some you know against the defense without helmets on her path it's really you know I was the him take a hit yet so you know I think we're going to rely a lot on him and I'm excited about that but that's asking a lot of a first year dude a first year dude who never started in college which is crazy to think about but I mean you know right I've seen his highlights and stuff he's he's the real deal and I mean just watching him in practice on hardnoughts I mean he looks fast

1:52:54and his cuts look firm so I mean and I you could hear the other players on the sidelines talking about him and they're all like Jesus this is something so I mean I'm very excited to see him play but we're still talking about a rookie out there starting week one you know catching a fast from Sam on the flat we'll see we'll see because that we're going to need that I'm excited to see what Fury brings to the table yeah yeah I am too I'm really curious and then I'm also curious kind of how people are going to react to the season like it you're at this point the CX 110 games in a row they won the Super Bowl they've with the best team in the league and they've got a lot of their great players back how are they going to handle it if there's bump in the road how are they going to handle like how are they handle I have a pretty good idea in the locker room how they handle it but how will they handle it fan wise how will the ownership handle it you know it's usually not

1:53:58as easy as you know you win a one Super Bowl you come back and you just win every other you know from it's how it works we've been through that before you know look at the beginning of every season is the toss up you know we might I think we'll probably lose you know three games this year four three four we're going to win one more than the Rams that's all I give a fuck about and then but but it's always we always lose one that we shouldn't at the top of the season always every year we lose a game that we shouldn't lose I don't think it's going to be the Patriots I don't think it's going to be Arizona but we'll we'll slip up somewhere in there and that's okay that's all right I think that Mike uses that I don't expect us to continue another 10 game winning streak it'd be great um but we know how this game is and it's not an easy game and and now every

1:54:59team in the league is is copying what the hawks did last year you know every wants to be the sea hawks and which means they've all spent all summer you know research and what the heck Mike was up to so you know in doing that teams may be a little bit more prepared for our defense I think so that's why I'm kind of so excited to see Sam you know he's been you know overlooked his entire career and I believe he's a top five quarterback I don't give a shit what anybody says I will argue it all day and I think he's going to prove it this year and I can't wait to see it I you know we were just talking at the beginning of when you came on about how great Baldi is as an analyst I'm going to give you some flowers man I don't think I've heard anybody make that point which I think is a really good one about how much people have been studying what the sea hawks did both because they won the Super Bowl but also because they played all those games and because Mike McDonald's had all that success and yeah I think that I don't think you can replicate Mike McDonald the same way you can't

1:56:03replicate Sean McVeigh but it is a matter of people trying to dissect it and that one of the things that's interesting there is if you compare it to a Sean McVeigh or a Kyle Shanahan those guys have been able to stay ahead and continue to be successful on their side of the ball so far Mike McDonnelld has had the number one defense wherever he's gone in multiple places multiple years with multiple rosters and now this is the first time that he will be in the same place three years in a row so if you think about a mechanic unfurling his tools for a job and Mike McDonnelld is he is in a zone of comfort and in his mad sciences lab in a way that he probably has never been able to beat before he's on iteration 3 4 5 6 7 here where he's had to start over from scratch in these other

1:57:05places when he goes to a new team no he's you know he's the McVeigh of defensive mind I mean that's same I think McVeigh is an offensive genius and I think what Mike is doing there no one can touch him on the defensive side I wish he had a couple more of them tools in the tool chest that you know we drafted I really I was so excited about you know you could almost see his mind working like a mad scientist and I have no doubt that he's gonna whoever's on the field is gonna be awesome again there's concerns a corner there's a little bit of worry at safety position and our depth is tough right now with injuries but look I'd rather be injured at the top of the season than at the end let's get everybody healthy and and and and make our run when we we need to do it in the meantime I still think

1:58:05you know the Hawks are you know top two three teams in the league going in with injuries so it's it's it's we're okay all right I love us last last thing I got to ask you and then I'll let you get on with your man so in your line of on in your line of work you read a lot of scripts right a lot of scripts come across your desk if the see Hawks last year came from an offseason where everybody pandit said they were going to be terrible for trading Geno Smith and DK Metcalf and signing Sam Darnold and then they not only aren't terrible but they beat the Rams twice they beat the 49ers in Levi's stadium to get the number one seed they trounce the 49ers again in the playoffs they're two biggest rivals then they beat the Rams at home and then they win the Super Bowl against the Patriots the team that had haunted them and they do it on the 49ers home field and they do it in

1:59:11the 49ers home lockroom if they follow that script up with going into this season where everybody is like the Rams this Rams that see Hawks are after thought if they do it again they win the division they win the NFC championship and then they win a Super Bowl on the Rams home field in the season that everybody gave them the Super Bowl before the season even started Jeffrey Dean Morgan would that script be believable if it came across your desk yeah yes it would and it would be my new favorite movie of halltime it is yeah it's believable I just think this team is different you know I we can talk and we have talked you know when Pete left the I was such a Pete guy and and you know I remember those great years and then you know soon as Mike came in we all saw this shift

2:00:15happen and and and then last year what we did I mean you just went through it the highlights of of that run they were insane and how we did it I mean that two-point conversion against the Rams I mean there was crazy stuff that you if I read I'd be like this has got a little bit too much fiction in it and yet it was all true so I think going into this year the sequel is more than possible it's Godfather too it's better than the first movie and that's saying something and yeah I can I can see it happening I just think we're built differently I really do I think there is just something different about this team than any other program out there so well said always an absolute I am thank you I'm excited to see the start and then we're

2:01:16back together Brian anytime let's do it it's great man have a great rest your day that's you were hey where should be do I think people should know from you coming up uh there should be watching too we got that two things going right now dead cities is on uh you know AMC and AMC plus uh big way through the season there and then I've got a show on uh Amazon called Sterling Point uh which has been doing really well uh blah blah blah blah blah and you know I just filmed the second season of destination X so you know we're still we're still cooking with the fire over here uh I have started my voice overwork for the sea hawks just did a a couple of things uh did a some piece on Rashid and uh Dixon so um the specialist which was fun it's a new thing that the sea hawk studio is doing um and so I'm thrilled to be part of that and still doing the sound um yeah so I'm you know keeping busy and keeping one foot in that sea hawk door brother

2:02:20well thank you for the time and on behalf of bunch of sea hawks fans thank you for your uh contributions to setting the stage for anytime I will be up here this season uh I was really trying to get a ring yesterday I'm like it's been like three years I've been on the payroll you know it's three dollars an episode but whatever can I get a ring I think you should everybody I was my pay grade I was the only half joking and then I think people thought I was serious so I kind of leaned in a little bit just to see well next time I see I'm gonna be looking at your finger I'm gonna believe it if anyone made don't worry I'll give you one too let's go love it love it Jeffrey Dean Morgan always great man uh great to have him back on the show as always uh man it's not just the sea ox players and the coaches who are great it's also sea ox fans man when you got a person like Jeffrey Dean Morgan who has risen to the top of his profession and doesn't need

2:03:24to give a person like me the time of day or anyone else forget me he on twitter he'll have people that are like please god just respond to me and he like takes the time he's like just relax all right I see your tweet but he's hilarious and he's genuine and he's stayed connected he stayed down to earth and I'm telling you there is something to this in the lessons of life about the most successful people that are able to sustain that success do not let that success infiltrate their mind and personality in a way that corrupts what made them successful in the first place and so Jeffrey is a great example of that you heard it like he's he's absolutely having that conversation like he would with anybody else there's no pretense to it I value I look for that in the people I bring on this show it's not

2:04:25just because he has fame I love that too that's cool because he's got unique life experiences but I want people just like Baldi who has risen to the top of his profession but he doesn't think he knows everything he is still curious he is still learning those are the people that I really value obviously Mike and Dave perfect examples of that and have risen to the tops of their profession in their own regard so I think all of this ties back to why I have such admiration for this Seahawks team and this organization because they are one of the great current experiments going on in regards to this concept of sustaining excellence and remaining grounded in the process and I don't think those two things are separable I think those two things are requirements and I know Mike McDonald's got it I think there are a lot of players in that locker room that get it

2:05:33we are going to see this season just how many of them are on that same page I think almost all of them are maybe all of them and then we're going to see how much is that worth when the chips fall how much does who the people are matter as much as who the players are on the field and last year you better damn believe it mattered when Jared verse talked about the Rams folding up shop because they did not understand what was happening when the Seahawks started cooking on offense and the NFC championship and they had thought they were just going to roll over the Seahawks they didn't know what to do you didn't know how to react the defense folded when the Seahawks got that two point conversion in the Thursday night football game you saw the Rams and their coach and their ownership

2:06:38and their front office when that happened they blamed everybody but themselves they didn't think that their special teams was more important they fired somebody but they didn't really change anything and guess what a bit them again in the NFC championship because they are so arrogant that they don't see their flaws and they think that they're infallible and by the way while we're on that topic let's just go back to that moment where the Seahawks had the had the two point conversion let's go back and look at that moment where and this is the wrong game so let me go back to the right game this is something that you've heard so many times about last season from generally credible

2:07:48people who are telling on themselves by continually misremembering how this game went in that game the Seahawks were down first of all the Seahawks were ahead in that game after the first possession of the second half 14 to 13 the Rams only went up by 11 points toward the end of the third quarter all right so this was not like this was a blowout the Seahawks were actually leading for much of that game but when the Rams got up 30 to 14 they after that they had three plays and a punt the next possession three plays and a punt I don't see anything happening about a two point

2:08:51conversion on either of those plays where they could have extended their lead after this was after they had a punt return for a touchdown for the Seahawks right so when the Seahawks did then get the point of the two point conversion the Charbonate two point conversion what happened after that by the way how much time was left there was six minutes and 23 seconds left in the fourth quarter of that game not 20 seconds not one minute six and a half minutes left in that game after the Seahawks tied it what did the Rams do on their next possession three plays and a punt what happened on their next possession they missed a field goal what happened on their possession after that they punted was there no other opportunity for the Rams to score one more point did that one play

2:09:54keep them from playing the rest of the game and not only did they have six and a half minutes of that game they had overtime and to their credit they scored a touchdown on the first position of overtime but guess what they gave up a touchdown and a two point conversion in the same overtime so this notion that somehow one play was the reason that the Rams lost the NFC lost home field advantage it's just silliness and I know my next guest even though she's down in that area of the world will admit Lindsey Rhodes of Seahawks sports you're not going to come on here and tell me that a two point conversion that was correctly called was the reason that the Rams didn't win the NFC no no no no one it's never one play there's lots of other chances in a game to you know pull away

2:11:01and not put yourself in that situation I actually hate just as a general rule um like if it's a kick if it's whatever I hate blaming the one play situation like you have so many plays in a game don't put yourself in that position where one game flips that way or this way um it's one of my like real pain points um is watching a kicker get blamed for a loss and watching by the way and I know this isn't what you're talking about but like uh watching football players that are not kickers actually go down that road I'm like oh don't get me started you know I uh I will admit I called on that Brian oh well the how how are you having this conversation about the Rams and it not being about that play but you're also like kicker do your job those so that's you're talking about one play I'm talking about kickers who make multiple plays and also it's a little different with kickers because I still have a hard time feeling like that's football like it's it's like this

2:12:06this weird thing that's been added to football but it's it's like literally those guys don't participate in 90% of practice they're off on their own field uh like it's weird that long snappers actually have a roster spot make a million dollars a year to do like one thing I will not participate in that conversation because JJ Jansson the long snapper for the panthers is one of like I mean you know I obviously work for a company that's like pretty deep in the nerdy data um and if there's one player in the league right now whose name you probably do not know that I would say look out for this person in the future to either be a coach or someone in a front office or someone in the media who is brilliant it's JJ Jansson so I will uh as somebody who talks back and forth like he his ideas about the league though though he is at the forefront of everything about modern football and so I will not talk trash about his position you will not hear me do that nope I love it I love it well you know what Lindsey we have been doing this

2:13:11blowout season preview and we've had amazing guests on we had Mike Sando and Dave Boling and Brian Baldinger and Jeffrey Dean Morgan and here's the thing he is the ninth thinning we've got to lead you've been brought in the closer am I gonna like we want it closer no that's up to you that is up to you I think you're off to a very strong start so I'm encouraged uh how this is going but uh how are you doing like the seasons about to go and you've been working your tail off at Sumer um it's all about to get going you guys just launched Sumer like you had Sumer live but what's the name of the data platform you just launched uh Sumer Pass. Sumer Pass which you you walked me through very very cool but now the games start what are you most excited about heading into 2020 and it's got so many things uh first and foremost I'm excited to not talk about theoreticals anymore like week one is my favorite week on the NFL calendar and I know people are like what like

2:14:16the playoffs and there's so many other better weeks of football this is for someone who does what we do and we're talking constantly about football and trying to like you know connect dots and there's so much evaluation that happens in the off season trying to figure out how it's gonna look and making projections and stuff week one is the week that we get the most information back like now we get our answers to the test and we've already drafted our fantasy teams and we've guessed about which Jags wide receiver is actually going to be the guy right like we're going to start to get answers about the way that um I mean just looking at offense speaking to the fantasy drafts that we've all been doing lately you're going to get answers about like how different wide receiver rooms um have actually shaken out which rookies actually have roles and are going to be big parts of the offense at least out of the gate um what a running back rotation actually looks like you know are you in Seattle how frequently is it jadarian price and is georgiawani on the field and what does that look like and how are they using them and is it the same as like it's just Kenneth

2:15:19Walker and Zach Charbonne and he's him and he's him and just it's gonna be like that or is it different like there's so much information the coaches Mike McDaniel in Los Angeles how similar or different will his offense look with Justin Herbert then the offense that he masterfully tailored around to a tongue of iloas um strengths and weaknesses in Miami like just so many questions that I have and I can't wait to get information and for that reason actually week one is like a week where a lot of people are like they'll say like seahawks patriots right like this is the game I want to watch and for a lot of reasons that one is a fun game to watch because there are also questions about those two teams that I want answered but in week one I'm looking for information those are the games I want to watch it's not like I'm not racing to watch you know the Rams or like these teams where I feel like I know I kind of know what I'm looking at here like I I want information so some of those games that are less exciting for other people um because they don't necessarily have the most

2:16:23talented teams those a lot of times are the ones that I really want to watch we're talking to Lindsey Rhodes from Sumer Sports uh and I got to ask you knowing that what is your most maybe controversial perspective or take that you're looking to get information to either prove your prior or disprove like what what are you like okay I believe this and nobody else does and I can't wait to find out if I'm right this is quite a stretch and I can tell you all the reasons that this might be wrong right and that's why I'm excited to actually see how it looks I don't think the jets are going to be as bad as people think I don't think that's a bad take you don't think or you do okay I don't I agree I agree I agree I said these are ways for that um the offense is I think it's just so smartly constructed like if you go through that roster piece by piece and you even like take it in like say okay here's what we were looking at going into the offseason as an

2:17:25offense and then these are the pieces that they brought in it all feels so intentional and smart like I like the wide receivers that they're looking at right now and who knows if they'll actually produce but the way that they're constructed in terms of concept makes so much sense to me so you've got Garrett Wilson as your number one guy who's gonna be your possession receiver work short intermediate inside outside you know all over the field then you've got 80 Mitchell who they brought in last year at the end of the year who's your stretch the defense 14 yard a dot guy who can clear some space and then you bring in Omar Cooper Jr who I really like to McIleman for that pick but the fact that they didn't get him and they went back and they got somebody who's similar in style so he's that guy who's gonna work it out out of the slot but can also move out give you some flexibility in terms of you know optionality and and and then he's like you know that rack guy like he's that guy in the middle of the field I love that style of wide receiver right now and so from a build standpoint then you've already got Mason Taylor that you drafted in the second round

2:18:28last year you go back to that well and you get Ken Yon's to deac this year in the first round so now you can run some 12 personnel like I breeze hall is a good running back who whose numbers have not been as high because he's been in a bad environment and that's always true for running backs and then I think that you know they've got a good olign I think that Gino is gonna be much better than people expect him to be because I think that what we saw last year from him and we know he is an environment specific quarterback if he he was in the worst environment I mean that was a mind-bogglingly bad environment there for so many reasons and I just don't and he was part of that he did not play well 100 percent but we were talking about coaching like we were hearing whispers about the offensive lineman coaching themselves because there was stuff going on with the olign coach situation like it just fell apart in so many ways there that I don't think he stood a chance he is not a quarterback similar to Sam Arnold right like where you're seeing him thrive

2:19:28in a good environment last year with Clint Kubiak and like everything is smartly skimmed and the play calling is smart to set them up to succeed when he takes those shots downfield that is not what happened with Gino Smith and I think that they are I don't want to they're not similar but they're on a similar tier in terms of like needing environment to be better you know they're not like a Patrick Holmes who's gonna create um regardless of what's around him and there are you know some of the like a Josh Allen who's gonna pull people along with him they're not that so I think God this is a lot of talk about the jets on a on a Seahawks but I just think I think there's a path like they're a five and a half win team according to like betting markets and there a team I would hit the over now the asterisk and why I'm interested to see them in week one is Frank Drake I don't know how he's gonna use them like is he gonna put them in motion is he gonna move them around the formation a lot is their optionality in routes I don't know so that's my question I like the build and I'd love to see how they use him them I I will not take too much more time with the

2:20:30jets the reason you mentioned is your listeners all start logging off oh I if I if I cared about that I would have done a different show a long time ago um we talk about whatever we want to talk about here um it happens to be a lot of Seahawks but it was gonna be an unpopular take that I am I'm not someone who believes or I will say I do believe Geno Smith is better than the player that he showed on on the field last year and that I mean I like Armand Mambu last year like I like a lot of what the jets did interestingly the least to me I thought the Raiders before the draft last year I'm like this pick should be Armand Mambu if they care about running the ball the best thing they could do is draft him not a running back and man do I stand behind that always I mean always forever and always well now I realize I'm talking to a team that did take a running back circumstances are different but they've got enough circumstances are different but yeah there's there's um there's a hundred

2:21:32percent if you need anything else on the offense you cannot afford to take that running back early because they can't they can't get it done by themselves so O-line for sure and I mean you know the Raiders like Colton Miller goes out and he has done that a few times in the last few years if you leave I mean we saw this with Jeremy tonsil this off season that commanders offense is going to be very different the second they lost them him their ceiling came way down and um I mean like the the chargers getting to the playoffs last year in light of what they're what happened with their two offensive tackles I think was so impressive in ways that people don't give them enough credit for like they had to turn Justin Herbert into a different like he become a scrambling quarterback you know like you have to change so many things and I think that that's what the commanders are about to look for there's nothing more important than the health of your offensive tackles and um and having a strong offensive line aside from quarterback obviously all right we're we're going to build we're going to build on this momentum uh I feel not the listeners may not feel it but I

2:22:36feel it we're going to talk about some non seahawks teams for a second but we're going to tie it back to the sea ox I'm going to talk you through the sea ox schedule outside of the NFC West I'm going to list every team I want you to not have to talk about every team but if there's a team or two that you have a thought about that we should know going into the season I'd like you to hit them so uh they play the Patriots week one they play the commanders we kind of talked about that a little bit they play the chargers they play the Broncos the chiefs the bears the raiders the cowboys the giants the Eagles my brain my brain took none of that in I need to pull this up I'm sorry I need a visual I'm I'm dumb and cannot uh process more than three things at one time so now I'm looking at I will put this on the screen that's actually fancy your fancy look at your ability it's not anything screen share yeah it's not going to be that fancy but I will happily do that just for you um so this is the schedule you also don't have to all right complicated because I

2:23:42did find it nah it's not that complicated it's just uh you know me being an idiot all right so here is we're a little we're little guys down there now let's do it let's do it this way um all right so that is the schedule for the sea ox of those teams that are outside of the NMC West any of them that you stand out you've got to take on or you've got some curiosity about that we maybe should learn a little bit about those teams I think the giants are an interesting team this year I think they're they're a team that like uh I think they could go either way right like I think that they had the worst injury luck last year I mean you lose uh cam we are dealing with uh banged up neighbors we are uh we lose Jackson Dart like there's just so many injury bad luck things

2:24:44that happened there but I think if people were to pull up their roster both on off into and defense and really go through it they'd be like this isn't that bad you know I agree I think we'll see what happens with Malik neighbors help with with everybody's health right and they don't have a lot of wiggle room that's the thing about most teams honestly and I kind of feel as way a little bit about Seattle too that's where my question mark comes in is that there are like there are rosters that you're like okay we can do this this is the plan but then if you take this guy out like we're kind of screwed you know like like there are like I would say that probably the two pieces for the Seahawks that I'd be like you cannot and I actually probably shouldn't want to are you guys um uh all knock on wood uh like Leonard Williams or Witherspoon right like if either of those two guys go out I think the plan is becomes way more complicated um and so that's most rosters but like if you look at the you know the Giants roster and you go let's say that they have a

2:25:50lot of injury luck and that they just don't you know have the thing that happened last year happened this year I think that they could be a sneaky team um not necessarily to like they're you know I'm not not to win a Super Bowl or anything like that but just you way way way better than people are expecting this year is a five and a half win team um trying to think who else well let me bring it back to the Seahawks for a second because I know we only got you for a little while longer and and uh you brought up some of the players that that that are kind of full-crowned foundational players when I'm gonna take it a different direction I'm not looking for your analysis specifically on the Seahawks but you're looking at the trends in the league and when you look at great offenses because the Seahawks do have a new offensive coordinator he's coming from San Francisco and I was talking earlier that one of the things that is different about the Clint Kubiak version of this offense than the Kyle Shanahan version of this offense there is more motion in the Kyle Shanahan version there is more one of the things I don't think

2:26:55I've actually shared this yet have I um I don't know if I did uh so one of the other things that's different is the amount of players that Kyle Shanahan puts out into routes so um uh Kyle Shanahan puts five players out into routes at a much higher percentage than Clint Kubiak is Clint Kubiak was more likely to keep more players in so the actual numbers are um 76% of the time Kyle Shanahan sent all five players out to a route Clint Kubiak only 61% of the time so I'm curious you know with all the data that you look at in the trends motion play action under center you know protection of plans like what are things that stand out to you as keys to a successful offense that you've been watching and maybe some trends that you

2:27:56have your eye on to to see what happens into the 2026 from an offensive standpoint you hit it right out of the gate with motion motion is like there's a strong correlation um between motion and play action and offensive success so those are two that I think and I think we can all kind of understand why like if you just stop and think about it like you're stressing the defense right you're like there is no just static snapshot that they're planning like they don't know there's more things to react to and then they have to react and so there's just more moving parts um I think motion is also a like the secondary indicator of creativity like if if we're going to add that extra layer and we're moving our our piece around the board um then a that means you have a versatile piece right uh like there's nothing bugs me more than a coordinator having a good wide receiver and having him stay along the sideline run go routes like there's nothing that bugs me more

2:29:00and there is also that's why like a carnal tate in Tennessee I'm like this is something I'm looking for for him in college over 50% of his routes run were goes and curls and the go component being so high and they're not being as much versatility of routry scares me because that might have been a college thing it might have been a usage thing but if he goes to the wrong offensive coordinator who is not creative and doesn't move them around and doesn't create space for him and and good matchups then there's more pathways to fail right so that motion I think gives you more pathways to succeed um and so that is I think just as a stat line something to look for um because because we know there's a strong correlation uh I think this year we're all kind of looking at the tight end um the heavy tight end stuff and see hawkscams know that more than anybody how much that was discussed last year which is so interesting to me too because I was looking um inside Sumer Pass at our uh team data

2:30:02tables which have all the like you can filter for personnel grouping and get all of the different stats and also each individual um player uh by personnel group but the um look at this look at you with your graphics ready to go to support that this is Sumer uh discussed. Sumer driven yeah you're fancy absolutely but um the uh what was I talking about personnel oh the Seahawks we talked about the 12 personnel and how it was a big part of just strategically what they were doing um and they were like 12th and 12th personnel rate right they weren't even like at the top of the NFL which is so interesting to me because like the Rams and their 13 personnel number one with a bullet like no one else is close it's like 30% like number two is at 14% or something like that like looking at 12 personnel you've got a bunch of teams that actually use two tight ends more frequently in the Seahawks what was notable about the Seahawks and their use of 12 personnel was how they did it and what they did out of it and how they ran a ton um to set that up and then threw out of 12 personnel trying to

2:31:08get the defense into a look you know to like bait them so that they could throw the ball down field more efficiently um and so I think that there's a lot of I think that ties to also kind of what I'm looking for on the defensive side of the ball and that is do we see a lot more dime this year dime is one of the things that I'll be looking for and by the way uh quick plug but I think it's relevant to this conversation want the coolest thing not one of the coolest thing in Sumer Pass um is our live our Sumer live so you'll have a live dashboard for every game that has every advanced charting statistic that you might be interested in that updates after every play before the next play happens so you can track how frequently they're in 12 personnel you can track how frequently the defense that's going up against them is in dime or for the Seahawks themselves because dime is like I mean I'm circled like eight times like how much are the Seahawks going to be in dime and how much are the Seahawks going to have uh e-men worry and witherspoon in the apex at the same time like the

2:32:11EPA if we went back and looked at last year when they had both of them on the field in what we call the apex and more frequently it would be called like big nickel or slot if you get them because you are throwing six db's on the field with dime you can put them both in that position and uh the EPA on those plays was wild it was so good and I think because of the construction of the rest of the defense in general I think you want that to happen most frequently and so I'm really interested like there was so much dime in the Super Bowl and that's one of the things that if you go look at the sumer live uh results like the the you know the final from the Super Bowl I think that the dime rate was like 50% or something so uh 53% 43% above league average in that game and and I just I wonder if it has to do with like getting those two guys in the right spot but also you know

2:33:12everyone is catching up to the fact that the way you win games is by passing efficiently like the run sets up the pass and you want to run well but as we saw with the Seahawks last year you don't even have to run efficiently you just have to run and then the run sets up the pass and then that's how you get your explosives right and the Seahawks are all about explosives like I used the word efficiency um when talking to somebody about the Seahawks last year and it was one of the people in our front office you know group we have a ton of people uh in our football ops department that are former general managers and scouts and they were like I'm gonna stop you right there I've talked to the Seahawks a number of times the word that they use in that building is explosives they don't care about efficiency they care about explosives I would argue in reverse that explosives lead to more efficiency but you know I wasn't about to argue with this person so um yeah we're what were we even talking about oh my god why do I just ramble like this I'm so excited about all these different this was amazing I'm like I'm I'm enraptured with all of it so I'm gonna ask you one more

2:34:18question and it's not gonna be data related is the vibes based question Lindsay and and if people think now you're at sumer you're just all data but I know better so I know you can so this might be a comfortable one though I'm just gonna prepare you for it would you do that if the unthinkable happens if the most talent-laden roster in history with the Rams with Aaron Donald with Miles Garrett with Pukinacua with Trent McDuffee with Matt there with Sean McVeyek coach if they don't win the Superbowl on their own home field what happens next year nothing with that they're they're fine I think they're fine your audience isn't gonna like this you don't think anybody leaves no well I mean I mean why I mean Stafford can always leave right like that's so but I don't I don't think that winning or not winning I mean if they win he could leave right like that could be like a what better way to walk off into the sunset so I mean that is always on the table that Stafford could leave um I think that

2:35:24they did a really smart I know everybody was very confused about the Simpson pick but I think that um it was smart to start building and have somebody in a room if they liked him which clearly they did right like and I know that that analysis was different than what other people thought on the outside but clearly they did so the fact that they went out and used that asset a year early brought him in while also going out and bringing in Miles Garrett to raise the floor and then Aaron Donald I mean like there's so many paths again I talk about paths fewer pathways to failure and more pathways to success all of their offseason moves have done that but I don't believe in the um the way we've talked about the Rams for years which is like when or else like what people talk about them being all in I just don't think that that's the way that they're built and I think that they've continued to prove that they think ahead so that that's not the situation they flipped that defense think about it like when Aaron Donald left the first time or when he left uh they flipped it so fast

2:36:28like they lost several pieces and they were just like we're ready for it here you go boom and the defense was one of the best defenses so I have faith that they are thinking ahead and they've got a plan for post Stafford and then they put that person in by the way I think a lot of the defensive moves that they've made are preparing for that now you've got Miles Garrett like let's say that you have to go to Tyson's in this year or next year because Stafford walks away then we now have a situation where uh like like the Browns they kept a score down they just didn't have quarterbacks that could put any points on the board right but they could they could keep them in games like the games they won were not because Shadour won the game he played terribly they were because the defense kept the score so low that it was possible and I think that that you could look at you know them having done what they did on defense to make it easier for them to get a quarterback up to speed post Stafford but like Mick Bay like nobody nobody pays a price here if they don't want to super

2:37:30ball you know who I do think could possibly and I think there's more pathways to narratively and vibes see that it ending this way is LaFlaur and the Packers he's the coach that I have circled as hot seat the most because the expectations are high if they even make it to the playoffs but then lose there will be people that are mad that they lost afterward why did you lose how did you lose was it close and is that your fault we've seen that all over and over again there um post Packer season then pointing the finger at LaFlaur if they don't make the playoffs people will be so angry that they didn't make the playoffs and it will be LaFlaur's fault like short of winning the Super Bowl I think it's highly possible I can see so many pathways to them being mad at the end of the season regardless of what happens absent winning the Super Bowl so he's the one that I kind of have that's the situation of like good team that could be in for it at the end of the year this year yeah I agree with with that part about the Packers for sure and what I took away from that whole

2:38:36well thought out response about the Rams was when you said like the Browns uh that's what I'm gonna take away from that is that there's a pathway where the Rams are gonna like the Browns don't you don't you don't love that that's gonna be the clip we get it's like it's a headline with no context like the Browse last year dot dot dot and that's it yes yes Lindsay Rhodes uh it is a pleasure as always tell folks where they can find you and what's coming up on all of Sumer's yeah go to uh Sumer Sports dot com and check out the Sumer Pass uh it is their components of it like if you sign up and you just set up an account you can get into parts of it for free and just sort of look around and see what it looks like and try it out we're going to make the Sumer live um feature which I swear to you is like it is it's live data like nobody else gets the data turned around that fast I think it will help you I mean you guys are watching this show right like you like like deep in the weeds like Seahawks conversation and so we'll have every game on a dashboard

2:39:39with rad stuff for you and the first game of every week will be free so you'll be able to watch your game uh on Wednesday so it'll be Seahawks Patriots all you have to do is sign up uh but you don't have to buy anything yet and then I highly suggest you do buy something because you'll be able to watch those games that way for the rest of the season and then there's like data tables and stuff like that that you know you guys have seen elsewhere but like I said all of the information if you just want to get lost looking for information about the Seahawks there will be many pathways for you to do that and then the Sumer Sports show will be back um very very shortly one of the requirements the prerequisites for being on this show is somebody who just absolutely loves the game and Lindsay you're one of the best because not only do you love the the game on the field the players off the field the the coaches and who they are but you know the numbers behind it you've got dug into the data you yeah last time I was on with you showed me a geratable by accident so you're like

2:40:45you're all over the place um so I really really appreciate you taking the time and honestly the stuff you guys are doing at Sumer is groundbreaking and makes being a fan and an analyst like way more fun so appreciate everything you guys thank you so much for saying that that's the goal so and it's always fun to come on here and talk about with you so thank you for having me love it Lindsey Rhodes over at Sumer Sports make sure you check out her stuff thanks Lindsey so that is the lineup of guests we're not yet done with this show I'm going to share a little bit more information looking ahead at this season including the fact is that players that played for the sea ox last year don't need to just be who they were last year for the sea ox to repeat you are going to need some players to be better than they were last year I want to talk about who some of the candidates are to be better and higher impact players than they were a year ago because you're going to need some of that expecting people to be the same that they were is probably not realistic

2:41:49there's either regression positively or negatively and it's not always going to all be positive that's just not the way the world works so we will talk about that hopefully you guys have enjoyed the show to this point so far if you haven't already given the show a like and click subscribe why not come on appreciate that for those that have if you haven't signed up at patreon.com slash hawk blogger that gets you ad free audio for this show throughout the year it gets you access to the discord server where you can talk with folks and chat with them all year long it also gets you verified over at hbticks where you can go to buy sea ox tickets from sea ox fans and making sure that you are a sea ox fan by being a patron is a good way to do that so we will get into some of these potential breakout players in just a moment before we do let's let's hear a few things from our sponsors all right appreciate everybody who supports this show both by listening and by

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2:44:57new users you play five dollars you get a hundred fifty dollars in bonus lineups if you win over at prize picks all right thank you to our sponsors and thank you guys for supporting our sponsors I really do appreciate it let's talk about potential breakout players and I think there's a lot there's a lot of possibilities here the names that come to mind for me of guys that you can really name every player on the roster that they could be better than they were last year but I'm gonna name a subset that I think is potentially the highest impact names that could really change the face of this season for the sea ox first one you've got to start with is jadarian price first round pick might be the only draft pick that has an impact on this season with Zach Sharman being out for the first four weeks at a minimum he is on the physically unable to perform list you're gonna be depending on three guys to start with that really didn't get

2:46:03any snaps of note for the sea ox last year you're gonna have jadarian price a manual Wilson and you're going to have George Helauney jade price likely is going to get the lion's share of those snaps if he is okay that's still a good thing if he is good that's a big deal if he's special that changes this season and I don't think he has the potential of just being special as a runner I think he has the potential to be special as a receiver and how this team utilizes him is going to be a big story to start this season and he has never taken an NFL snap he did not take a snap as a starter in college this is a new world for everybody but he is a unique fit to this outside zone scheme he's got great vision great contact balance and the team is genuinely very excited about who he can be so that's the first name that comes to mind for me the next name

2:47:11that comes to mind for me is a guy that was a rookie last year and was a second round pick and missed a good part of the last part of the season due to injury but his name is Elijah O'Royal he is the tight end and this is a guy that has unique pass catching ability has unique potential to affect this offense and keep in mind I think too much is made of Brian Flurry being the tight ends coach in San Francisco and that he's going to be all that tight ends I don't think that's the case but there is no question that he knows what the impact of a move tight end can be in an offense as well as somebody who can be a great blocker George Kiddell for my money has been the best tight end and football over the last five six years yes that includes Travis Kelsey when he was more in his prime than he is now because he was a great blocker and a great receiver and I

2:48:15think Elijah O'Royal is a good enough blocker I think he's in a above average blocker I don't think he's a great blocker but I think he's a good blocker but I think he can be a special pass catcher and so he is someone who I think can have a real impact on this season if he breaks out this season will go very differently than if he does not the next name that comes up to mind for comes to mind for me is a name that's well known for Seahawks fans and the rest of the NFL so it wouldn't be a breakout from a career perspective but Rashid Shaheed caught very few passes for this Seahawks team last year this is the full offseason experience for him and Sam Darnold where they have been able to throw to each other they've been able to run routes to get like he's been able to run routes with Sam Darnold and get on the same page I think they are going to utilize him far more than they did last year I think they're going to utilize him horizontally as I mentioned I think they're going to utilize him in the backfield I think they're going to utilize him on reverses and I think they're

2:49:20also going to utilize him straight ahead on deep nine routes so I think he has a chance to be a much bigger factor this guy if I am remembering correctly is the active leader for the average distance of his touchdowns he has a remarkable knack for explosive plays and you heard Lindsey Rhodes talk about how big explosives are to this organization and to football there's nobody on this offense more capable of making explosive plays than Rashid Shaheed which by the way is part of why did I am priced is such a big deal did I am priced had a ridiculous explosive play rate in college even with less snaps he had a tendency to make big plays if he can be an explosive runner that changes the math that changes the equation for the efficiency of this offense and the danger that this offense represents for defenses another player that I will put on this list

2:50:30is on the defensive side and that's by Ramurfi this is a guy who had a breakout season last year and still was not recognized by pro bowl voters by all pro voters by almost anybody and he took that personally and I am telling you his body is different than it was even last year he is in the best shape I've ever seen and yes you always get these training camp stories of the best shape of his life I get it I'm just telling you what I saw this guy is a bowling ball of butcher knives with his strength speed stature he looks like a running back agility wise at a nose tackle position who's also being moved around the line I think he has the potential to be the best defensive tackle in the sport and that is with Aaron Donald coming back who should be like my assumption is

2:51:35he's going to be the best defensive tackle until he's not because that's who he was his whole career but by Ramurfi has the potential to be in that conversation if he is in that conversation my god does that change the equation for this defense if he is able to be that kind of difference maker from different spots on the line that is going to change the equation for this defense and for opposing offenses similarly Riley Mills I've been very bullish on Riley Mills all off season I will say that in preseason in the games I didn't necessarily see what I was hoping to see I didn't think it was bad but he was not dominating second and third string opponents the way I was expecting him to now there's a lot of reasons that could have been that might change but if Riley Mills becomes a difference making defensive tackle if especially if you pair that with Byron Murphy taking

2:52:42another step forward Riley Mills played 3% of the snaps last year if he is able to be in there and be productive this was already the best defensive tackle group in the NFL it just got deeper if that happens so I think those two guys can have an absolutely exponential impact on this defense I will throw into that mix Derek Hall now Derek Hall is an interesting study in that it's not a matter of whether Derek Hall already is capable of you know double digit sacks or being a high pressure rate guy he's been essentially those things already but he had two sacks during the regular season he had two sacks in the Super Bowl but this is a guy that if they don't have the dominant edge rusher if he can come in and realize some of his potential that would be a really

2:53:46big deal similarly Dante Fowler Jr. I'm not going to say he's a breakout player but what I will say is he is a barometer he is an indicator of how this team is going to go defensively because he actually was a more effective past rusher than boy Amoffe who just got paid 20 million dollars a year by the bangles the statistics support this this is not my analysis this is just his past rush win rate his pressure rate his like all the things indicate that he was a more dangerous past rusher than boy Amoffe was last year and he is just a few years removed from double digit sacks himself and when I talked to him he felt like this was a lot like when he was in Washington playing next to two very good defensive tackles that helped make his job easier if he is able to be a

2:54:48productive past rusher again the edge rush we just talked about interior rush these are these are not pipe dream things this is can Dante Fowler do something he's already done can buy a Murphy build on what was already a breakout season while he's still very young Riley Mills who showed up in the super bowl can he built like these are things like basically can you be more of who you already been in most of these cases and another name I will throw out there is tyris night tyris night has a chance to be one of the surprise contributors to this team this season he I think rightfully lost his job to Drake Thomas who also had a terrific season but with all the talk of Nicki minwari one of the players who people do not understand could really benefit in terms of playing time from Nicki minwari's absence is tyris night they could play more three linebacker sets

2:55:53that's tyris night playing essentially when Nicki minwari but people don't understand is Nicki minwari is not one thing there are certain calls where he is essentially a strong side linebacker there's other calls where he is a dime safety there's other calls where he's a nickel corner he plays different positions he just happens to be the same person tyris night can play some of those strong side linebacker snaps and he is developed as a coverage player which was one of the things that was keeping him off of the field so I think he has a chance to be a real impact player for this team and I'm really good to see and the last two guys I'm gonna name like I like I said I could go through all of these guys they're gonna be well known names Nicki minwari's 22 years old if you think we've seen the best of Nicki minwari as a rookie you and I see things differently and I

2:56:55think that the potential for Nicki minwari to become even more dangerous than he was a year ago to become more involved with the past rush than he was a year ago to be given more of an opportunity to prove himself as a coverage player I think all that exists and this is a guy that has a ceiling that we don't know yet what it is and I would add the last player I would mention here is devon witherspoon and that might sound crazy devon witherspoon's been to the pro bowl every year he's been in the NFL how much better can he get I would ask you to watch the Super Bowl watch him dominate that game watch the amount of times he was sent after the quarterback the way that he called game by strip sacking Drake May on that play to get a Chen and Wosu a strip sack

2:57:57fumble recovery for a touchdown devon witherspoon has never had the counting stats in the NFL he's only has two interceptions in his career this is a guy that could put it all together this year in year three with Mike McDonald after getting his contract and you could see more big plays remember his first interception against the giants the picks six I think this guy has got more playmaking in him than what we've seen on the field as great as he's been I think there is more greatness in him and more capability there that we could potentially see so that is my list of guys that could pop that some of them already have and could take another step but I think there's some of those guys that could take first steps as well I've got more I could cover but you know what it's been three hours and I hope you guys have enjoyed it I want to thank Pemko Insurance once again for sponsoring this show they're going to be with us throughout these first few months and hopefully for longer

2:59:00and as I've said before a company that I stand behind and I stood behind me and they're in North West based company that is investing in another Northwest company in what we're doing here on Hawk blogger so please support them show them some love get to Pemko.com learn more about what they can offer you if you're in the state of Washington or state of Oregon they can be here for you when you really need it so appreciate everybody let me check out super chats I don't want to forget super chats Italian Knights with some jewels thank you for that free truth also some jewels thank you for that Seahawk gives a foam finger we got another foam finger from Seahawk we have got pop a Ted giving away five Hawk blogger memberships thank you for your generosity Niko Scota Chris who's been a member for 21 months says good morning from Greece wishing a fun and healthy season for our beloved Seahawks thank you for tuning in I love Greece what a great country great people foam finger from Andrew Ketsenberger we have got pop a Murphy with a go team we've got

3:00:04Sheedbands with MVP we've got Sheedbands with another MVP we've got a football from sage shank all right Lumin Loud member for four months says Brazilian 12s are so hyped for the season million of us talking all day and counting the days go hawks well thank you for that and I'm glad Brazil's in it old school Seahawk OSS member for 25 months to plus years run it forward love you 12s LFG and he comes back with a foam finger so I appreciate all of the super chats I appreciate everybody that's tuned in we had 20 million plus people watch this show last year let's see if we can top that this year and thank you to Kinsey for the tournament all right everybody have a great rest your day take care